MASTERMIND - EXCELSIOR! - 1998

MASTERMIND is brothers Berends, Bill and Rich. Rich is a drummer who subscribes to the Carl Palmer school of drumming. Music, lyrics, guitar, bass and faux-keyboards (actually a guitar-controlled MIDI setup) were handled masterfully by brother Bill, while Rich pounded out complex drumming and sang. Even though the music is guitar based you can hear influences from ELP. They play a melodic ELP - styled energetic and bombastic progressive rock. The music, a heavy metal, jazz fusion, and progressive hybrid, propels you at a breakneck speed from the opening notes to the final chord.

On their third release, bass provided by Phil Antolino left its main influences for a more original Progressive music with long instrumental developments where it's hard to believe than only three musicians are enough to produce such a complex music! "Volume IV", is truly ASTONISHING. With "Excelsior" addition of keyboardist Jens Johansson, they abandoned Rich's vocals completely and did an all-instrumental album. At the same time, the music began to leave the 70's prog sound behind, and the move towards a more progressive metal sound began, though this album also has a lot of jazzy influences. With the release of "Angels of the Apocalypse" MASTERMIND's first release on a major label (Inside Out), the move towards progressive metal was complete. MASTERMIND is a band to watch. They aspire to the fame and glory of ELP.
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