This is a really good CD by the Franco Swiss progressive metal band, who produced the album.
The CD starts really well with ‘Pandore Prelude’, featuring some really good guitar soloing with classical overtones and then we are straight into track 2, ‘What Is Your World’. This track sets the tone for the cd. There’s plenty of different riffs, tempo changes, lively drumming, solid bass, plenty of keyboards and gritty vocals, courtesy of Matthias Nussbaumer. Next up, ‘The Road To Panic’ is a song about depression and inner turmoil. There is good interplay between guitars, keyboards and drums. There’s shades of heavier Dream Theater in this track and the guitar solos are well mixed, imaginative and exciting. The two axe-men in the band are Andrea Ricci and Patrick.
Track 4 is called ‘In Your Dreams’. There’s a nice stop-start, heavy guitar riff and busy drumming by Sebastien Perrad, a big Metallica fan. His drumming sounds like a cross between Lars Ulrich and Mike Portnoy, in other words it’s really good. He also wrote the whole album. In the midst of the track there’s a fast keyboard solo, which has a classical feel to it. The keyboard player, Vincent Porcherot was classically trained and it shows. Next up is ‘Three Months’, a song about terminal illness and knowing you are going to die! There’s a good metal riff, violin sounding keyboards and a wild guitar solo in the mid section. ‘Endless Race’ has plenty of tempo changes, and hammer down drumming, which is well supported by the bass playing of Leandro Oliviera. The album is well produced, and it has a nice clear sound with the solos high in the mix, which I like.
‘Anna’ is a song about betrayal by one once loved. It’s quite dramatic with a good build-up of tension. There’s the usual excellent musicianship and gritty vocals too.
‘Winter’s Dream’ is an atmospheric, mournful ballad with well delivered singing, an acoustic guitar solo and plenty of piano playing. Track 9 returns to the heavier side. It’s called ‘Cold Bitterness’ and has some complex time signatures with great interplay between instruments, gritty vocals and well constructed guitar solos.
The cd ends with ‘Our End’. It’s a grim warning about the future (or not) of our world! There’s more prog-metal mayhem in this tune. There’s a great solo, with good use of whammy bar and some frenetic fret work and excellent drumming.
Overall ‘Sinuous Minds’ is a really well made CD, full of excellent musicianship and it is well recommended.
By Chris Greenwood
