Infinite Horizon - Mind Passages (Power Metal)

Infinite Horizon - Mind Passages (9/10) - Germany - 2003



Genre: Power Metal / Melodic Metal

Label: Self-production

Playing time: 63:03

Band homepage: Infinite Horizon



Tracklist:



1.

The Way To Eternity

2.

Return To Babylon

3.

Elysium

4.

Hole In The Sky

5.

Daydreamer

Space Dream Navigation:

6.

I. Metamorphosis

7.

II. The Experiment

8.

III. Secret Intention

9.

IV. Face In The Mirror

10.

V. Eternal Salvation

11.

The Reaper



Infinite Horizon - Mind Passages



There are bands that go through a tremendous evolution between the debut and the second album and then there are bands, which already deliver a true cracker with the debut and then follow this up with an at least equal highlight. I am talking about INFINITE HORIZON from Germany and ?Mind Passages?, the follow-up to the already excellent ?Beyond Infinity? from 2001.







The sextet basically has stayed true to itself and still offers us a mix of Melodic and Power Metal, even tighter and more mature than before thanks to the added experience of the stable line-up, the song writing has made another step forward, they did good in not just belting out another album as fast as possible, but to take their time, which really pays off here.







The production again has been taken over by Boris Marcukaitis and is powerful, clear, but not too polished, leaving the songs the right room. The album itself is divided into two parts, the first one consisting of the first five songs, dealing with ?real? topics such as war or religion, the second one being the five-part concept opus ?Space Dream Navigation?, before we get a bonus track off their sold out debut EP with ?The Reaper?.







?The Way To Eternity? already gives us a very good look at the abilities of the band, rather rooted in Melodic Metal, with very well implemented piano. They also cannot hide a certain dramatic touch, with very matured song structure and great mid-pitched, expressive vocals by fronter Marc Lemler, just to top it even off with ?Return To Babylon?. This song has a certain progressive list, with good drive and again strong vocals and guitar leads, a duo that should accelerate every fan?s heartbeat considerably! On ?Elysium? Lemler again stands out, altogether rather slow-paced, here and there with double-bass outbreaks, a big chorus and atmospheric keyboards and during the dynamic ?Hole In The Sky? even the name SAVATAGE comes to my mind, a big compliment!







Phew, let?s take a breath, you almost have to mention every single song! But that has not been all yet, by far not, because the almost 29-minute ?Space Dream Navigation? is a big, a truly big and outstanding track, which will give many already established acts something to chew on, definitely! The heart piece of the album shadows most compositions coming out of this genre of the past few months with almost frightening ease! It deals with one man, who does not seem to be able to deal with the real world and gets a chip implant to get out of it. Unfortunately the chip does not work as planned (or too well) and the man commits suicide. Suddenly he wakes up, was it all just a dream or not??







Musically INFINITE HORIZON cover an impressive spectrum here, from the acoustic simplicity and beauty of a ?Secret Intention? to the very hard riffing and the pressing drums of the varied and intense ?Face In The Mirror?, with the almost ten minute ?The Experiment? being the heart piece of this, well, heart piece, with spoken samples embedded into heavy, but still very catchy and melodic passage, at times supported by piano and a very catchy chorus. Everything is damn dynamic and variable, with shifting moods and intensities, but never sounding disrupted, again with great vocals, a masterpiece!







I just received information that INFINITE HORIZON have signed with TTS Music, a very good move by the label, because this band has tremendous potential and ?Mind Passages? is an album that as fan of this style you need to have, only costs 10 Euro plus 3 Euro for shipping, go get it! (Online August 12, 2004)