Released By : Makyo’s Records
Genre : Power Metal, Melodic Metal
Links : http://www.reverbnation.com/circlesofmind
Tracklist:
01. Entry To The Revelation (Intro)
02. Another World
03. Sons Of The Stars
04. Fears & Fantasies
05. Empires Of Dirt
06. Delirios
07. The Dawn Of 2012
08. The Awakening
09. Sacred Lies
Hmm… So I’m not quite sure exactly how an album released back in 2009 ended up on my review pile, but there is was so I gave it a fair listen and I always make sure to review anything that ends of on my pile. Anways, CIRCLE OF MIND are a Mexican power metal band with slight progressive metal tendencies and as far as I can tell REVELATION INSIGHT is their only release excluding a self-released E.P back in 2008. They did initially go under a different moniker of NIGHT STORM, but never recorded anything up until their CIRCLES OF MIND days.
I must say that this is a pretty decent power metal release, though there are some improvements that could have been made. The first gripe is with the odd sounding production.. For example, the gang vocals and the orchestration type sections are pretty well produced, but the drum sound is very muddy and when the double kick assault comes in it causes certain songs to sound messy where a more treble based drum sound would have probably cleared it right up. For a Mexican based band, the vocalists accent is quite well done and while obviously not sounding American or anything, you wouldn’t be able to pick him as a Mexican either.
A couple of songs stand out as a bit better than the rest in the seven minute SONS OF THE STARS, EMPIRES OF DIRT and my favorite tune of the album THE DAWN OF 2012. The thing all these tunes have in common is that they are powerful when they need to get going, but are also very melodic and easy to listen to, once again it’s just such a shame that the production takes your mind off the actual songs on offer otherwise these three tracks may well have gotten a bit more notice and respect from the wider metal listening and critiquing land scape.
Being two years old now I guess whoever was going to but it would have done so by now, so let’s just use it a sa good way to introduce those of you who are yet to discover CIRCLES OF MIND, and hopefully a new album is only just around the corner as I would really like to see what the band could do if given a decent production and a little bit more time to work on coloring up the songs a bit more.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 7/10