Spin My Fate – Act II: When Worlds Collide Review

Since a member of the band took it upon themselves to send me physical product, I decided I would give it my utmost scrutiny. That day I had some...

Released by: Independent

Release Date: Out Now!!!

Genre: Alternative Rock

Links: http://www.spinmyfate.de

 

Line Up:

Jan Kattner – Vocals

Simon Bosse – Guitar/Vocals

Janosch Hermann – Bass/Vocals

Jonas Bertels – Drums

 

Tracklist:

01. Between the Sky and Ground

02. Still Alive

03. Make me Stay

04. Get into this

05. Polish Man

06. King of Apologies

07. Terra Incognita

08. The Beginning

09. Down that River

10. Day of Redemption

11. Fools of Innocence

12. Take a Number

13. Hold On

14. Coming Home Again

 

Sometimes I stop and think about the power I have at the ends of my fingers (and brain synapses as well.) I’m not getting the big head here, but if you stop and think about it, in a small way I can make or break a band. OK, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, however if you look at it it this way: Say you stumble across one of my reviews. Perhaps you were consciously seeking information about a band or you were doing a random search of music reviews and you happened across My Global Mind and took the time to read what I have to say then determine whether you were going to check out a band or not. If it’s not a favorable review, the reader is less likely to take the extra effort to check out the band. Unless you think all people that review albums (or at least me) are complete morons and you in fact use negative reviews to find bands to check out. If it’s that, you’re a sick freak and should seek psychiatric attention.

We the writers, reviewers, interviewers, whatever you wish to call us, here at My Global Mind are tasked with the job of checking out many, many releases on a daily basis, looking for the ones that are worthy of our time to write about. Sometimes our job is easy- perhaps one of our favorite bands is releasing a new album, which makes the writing process flow much easier than hearing a new band, and trying to find the right words to tell you, the reader, how we felt about an album from a band we likely have just heard of and know zero about. I’ll be frank, I tend to wait until after I listen to the music before I research into the band. Most of the time the PR information is touting the band as the next big thing- when in actual reality it’s just another power metal band that sounds like Blind Guardian. In the case of a band like Spin My Fate, they simply were a band that Denys sent me an email from the guitarist asking for constructive criticism of their music. I have a lot of respect for that. At one time in my life I too was a struggling musician, anxious to get my music out to the world, laying my soul out open for people to either love and adore or tear down. Though I wasn’t sure if the music would be up my alley, I took the task, contacted the guitarist (Simon Bosse) and waited to hear back about a link on where to grab the files. To my surprise I received a physical copy of their CD Act II: When Worlds Collide.

Since a member of the band took it upon themselves to send me physical product, I decided I would give it my utmost scrutiny. That day I had some errands to run, so I popped the CD into my car’s player and headed on my way. When the bouncy riff of opening track “Between Sky And Ground” began I had mixed feelings. Instantly I figured I’d not like it as it didn’t strike me as my style. Nothing wrong about that per se. There are plenty of styles of music I’m not a fan of, but I still went on listening. The next thing that struck me was I wasn’t a fan of the vocals. Again, nothing necessarily bad about them, I just felt that they didn’t quite fit what was going on. Still yet I carried on. Though the music leans towards a strong modern sound, I’m thinking stuff like Three Days Grace and Third Eye Blind, heavy-ish but a slow groove driving the rhythm, it had a bit of a different thing working for it. And almost jazz mentality.. By the time I got to track three “Make Me Stay” and inexplicably Jan Kattner (vocals) started doing some screaming stuff, it really started losing me.

Yet despite my early, and powerful, misgivings I carried on. Most of my tenacity stemmed from the fact that the guitar work of Bosse, the bass of Janosch Hermann, and the drums of Jonas Bertels kept me going. Though musically it wasn’t a style I love, they all three did things musically that I certainly could appreciate, especially much of the stuff with the guitar. There are some strikingly beautiful things he does with his instrument, like the subtlety of “Polish Man” with the funky drumbeat behind it was one of the first instances where I was very impressed. It just sounded perfect. This started giving me hope that I would find more to enjoy. The driving, almost King’s X groove of the opening of “Terra Incognita” had great potential until that screaming stuff started again. “The Beginning” was one of the few times that I felt the vocals actually worked. Again there’s this funky drum pattern with some nice, simplistic guitar stuff that simply worked. This goes into “Down That River,” which is easily my favorite track of the album. It’s dark, haunting, and stunning. The album closer is a near 20 minute track entitled “Coming Home Again.” This has the best guitar work on the album. Bosse is given the opportunity to really cut loose.

As the saying goes, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. In the case of Spin My Fate, that link would be Kattner. And I want to reiterate, it’s not that I think he’s a bad singer. It’s just his voice doesn’t gel with the music as much as I think it should. The things I like about the band, I like quite a lot despite the genre dislike. I’d be curious to see where the band goes next. I do appreciate them giving me the chance to listen to their music, and I hope they don’t think I was too harsh towards them. Overall, Act II: When Worlds Collide is a pretty good listen. Perhaps those that love this type of band would love it much more than I did. For the effort put forth and for the things I did enjoy about them I give them 7 out of 10.

 

Written by Chris

Ratings    Chris    7/10

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