Mindstab – Say Anything CD
The album "Say Anything..." by the Belgian band Mindstab leans heavily towards nu-metal. While I'm not usually a big fan of nu-metal sounds, there are some good exceptions. "Say Anything..." unfortunately isn't one of them. However, it wouldn't do the CD justice to simply dismiss it! On the one hand, passages with good metalcore screams, beautiful clean vocals, some decent riffs, and lovely melodies are quite convincing. Above all, though, the album's beautiful, atmospheric, calm, profound, and soulful tracks are captivating.
"Lost And Found" features a lovely piano melody/soundtrack, while "I Wish I Was" is fantastically dreamy and initially has absolutely nothing to do with metal, but it completely draws you in before the crushing guitars and anguished metalcore vocals skillfully kick in. "Beware The Beastman" surprises with an almost hip-hop-like beat sound, which, however, comes across quite pleasantly thanks to some very nice sounds. The highlight of the album, however, is the title track. Here, beautiful piano melodies, atmospheric keyboard sounds, and soulful clean vocals are combined with very subtle drums and nice rocking guitars. A truly beautiful song! But the majority of the album doesn't consist of the aforementioned positive surprises, which simply deserve to be mentioned, but rather of irritating, quirky nu-metal.
If I try to put myself in the shoes of a nu-metal listener, I might actually like it a bit more, but as I said, there are better bands in the nu-metal genre. The combination of vocals, rhythm, and riff sequence simply isn't very successful. It's a shame, because you can hear that the band definitely has potential! For the next album, it would be best to switch to acoustic music and only include quiet pieces, creating a consistently profound atmosphere, or simply change the playing style!
Label: Seamiew Records
Country: Netherlands
Media Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Sleeve Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Plays great but has a superficial mark. Retainers caused some indents.