MINDGAMES - ACTORS IN A PLAY - 2006

THE FULL FIVE STARS!!!

Freshly sounding melodic New Symphonic Prog from Belgium - this what MINDGAMES is!!! Deeply inlfuenced by IQ and YES,complex but very melodical epics are supplied with emotional singing and very good lyrics.This is the BEST Neo effort I heard this year,and it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to all Neo/New Symphonic Prog fans!!!If you're longing for a mature music,throw away all the copycats and clones - MINGAMES have their own way of playing the Progressive Rock!!!Must NOT be missed!!!


Actors In A Play shows a vastly improvement over their debut three years before. Everything that album hinted and promised is fulfilled here. The songwriting is much more mature and developed than on International Daylight. Also the band is much more focused and tight. The only controvertial point are the vocals: Bart Schram has a high pitched voice that seems to be a mix of Geddy Lee (Rush), Aloisio Maggini (Clepsydra) and Jon Anderson (Yes). His vocal technique also evolved since their start, but clearly not for everyone´s taste. In my case, I think it works well for this kind of music.

Their music is a fine mix of symphonic prog (Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd), neo prog and some heavy elements (the influence of Rush is evident). The result is a very pleasant music, creative and appealing. there are no fillers and the six long compositions are quite uniform, with very few lows and lots of highs The musicanchip is excellent: all the guys in the band are skillful and the arrangements are very tasteful. And the right production only enhances their qualities. Nothing too original but very well done and the band is surely on its way to build up a very own sound if they keep developing this way.

My rating: something between 3,5 to four stars. I´ll round up to four this time because they did their homework. If you like melodic symphonic prog, or neo prog in general, this CD is recommended. I´m looking forward to hear their next releases.
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