Mindfields – Mindfields

Release date: december 2006,
By: Wouter van de Kamp

This young quintet from the capital city of Holland sent me their promo for review. Having been support act of Delain and having played the Summer Darkness festival and being able to do a releaseparty in Melkweg (Amsterdam) they have achieved quite somewhat in their young existence.
A simple cardboard sleeve made me kind of suspicious as to the quality of the whole thing, but I put it on without prejudice. A fortunately short intro goes straight into the first real song called Corroded. A progressive rocksong that seems to slowly drift on a nice summer breeze. Female singer Laura shows she has quite some diverse ways to let breath pass her vocal tract. A nice way to introduce the listener to the band. Track 3 starts off much faster. This song called New Clarity is again a song that sounds like a nice sing-a-long, though when you try to, it turns out to be a bit more difficult than expected.

Although the current line-up doesn’t feature a keyboard player it is clearly present and some interludes in the songs lean heavily on the keys. I personally think they do not really need the keyboard in the band. Without it, it is somehow more refreshing.

Symbiosis and Passage of Choice complete the promo. Overall the production is done very properly. Sometimes the vocals sound a bit narrow, but perhaps that is what they want it to sound like. I found this promo quite original, but if there’s a need for comparisons one can name bands like Katatonia, The Gathering, Amplifier, K’s Choice, Skin/Skunk Anansie, Anathema and Opeth. With this 5 tracked promo with a total length of 22:29 they have introduced themselves properly to the world. Keep an eye on this band. They certainly have potential!

Links:
Mindfields official
Mindfields Myspace