Mind fans were let loose like ravenous wolves on the internet last night as it emerged that the whole of their album,
The Aeronaut, had been completely leaked in its entirety by unknown perpetrators. In a post on their fan website yesterday, they said:
Mind wrote:Oh. Well, that sucks. But as long as you like it and you buy the hardcover, then we wont sue you. Tell us which tracks you like, we'll try improving on it for our next one. Two bloody months early as well. I thought we'd get further than that...We wanted to say that most of the tracks on this album, whilst still being conceptual, they're more about real life and emotions. We want something that listeners can relate too, rather than figure out what the fuck is going on. That's just a side bonus. It will come with a free bonus disc if you order the deluxe package. Exciting, I know. This album will blend the heaviness and fury of our debut with the progressive and technical vibe of The Juggernaut. You should enjoy it a lot.
Influences: Strapping Young Lad(in fact, all of Devin Townsends work), Mastodon, System of a Down, Meshuggah, Death, Fear Factory, Pagans Mind, Scar Symmetry, Coheed and Cambria, Sex Pistols, Bad Religion, Tool, Morbid Angel, Muse, The Smashing Pumpkins, Excel, Falkenbach, Opeth, Reach the Sky, King Diamond, Bad Brains, Between the Buried and Me, Candlemass, Symphony X, Outworld, Edguy, Hammerfall, Riot, Accept, Pantera, Mnemic, Judas Priest, Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones, Immortal, Yngwie Malmsteen, Finntroll, Tyr, X Japan, Venom, The Mars Volta, Machine Head, Gallows, Black Sabbath, Rhapsody, Evergrey, Cirith Ungol, Amon Amarth, Porcupine Tree, 3 Inches of Blood, David Bowie, Tad, Time Requiem, The Ramones, Primus, Baroness, Saxon, Pestilence, Five Finger Death Punch, Nocturne, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Alice In Chains, Nitro, Foo Fighters, Ephrat, Faith No More, Children of Bodom, Jethro Tull, Blind Guardian, Nightwish, Bathory, Iron Maiden, Ahab, Equilibrium, Wintersun, Enslaved, Amorphis, Ensiferum, The Answer, Metallica, Queensryche, Enslavement of Beauty, Battlelore, Carpathian Forest, Queen, Apocolyptica, Iced Earth, Arjen Anthony Lucassen’s Star One, Cemetery, Sepultura, In Flames, Primal Fear, Therion, Necrosanct, Rush, Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, Magnitude 9, Esoteric, Lost Horizons, DevilDriver, Korplikaani, White Zombie, Lamb of God, Pixies, Omen, Running Wild, Channel Zero, The Clash, Monster Magnet, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Otep and Atrocity... for now. (If I repeated one, bite me.)
This album will truly offer a proper window into our... ummm... mind. Fuck.
What we think of our work:
Jason: “Definitely our most diverse and accomplished work yet. People should like it more than our previous 2 albums.”
Aaron: “So far most of our success has been luck based. The bands we’ve toured with, the festivals we’ve played. This time it will be about the music purely. Oh, and extensive touring too.”
Harry: “It’s fucking awesome.”
Robert: “The Juggernaut was the album that set the base for our music. It made us, hopefully this one can make us more; make us a much better band.”
Track Listing
1. Monoxide Dream (1:24) (Industrial/ Ambient)
This is a simple intro, to set the scene. Guitars gently play in the background and heavy synthesizers dash around the place, making it sound all spacious and nice. Towards the end of the intro, the volume increases and you can feel something calling in the air tonight...
2. Winter Upon Us (7:01) (Melodic Death Metal/ Power Metal) (
Similar to this)
To open the album, we have an epic neo-classical piece of bliss. The harsh black metal vocals accompany the sweeping arpeggios and spiralling drums. It contains some of the most technical pieces Mind have ever attempted. It's gonna be a bastard to play live. Lyrically, it is about the beauty, yet bitternes of the winter and it also goes hand in hand with the Anthema saga (explanations soon) In one sentence, it's like being hit in the face with a bludgeon. Brutal, but makes you question.
3. Those Who Knew (5:39) (Black Metal/ Symphonic Metal) (
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Our most black metal song EVAR. It's symphonic, brutal and unusually melancholy. So far, the album is shaping up to be awesome. Maybe not the most difficult or catchy of the songs on here, but after listening you'll feel good. The lyrics in this one are much more emotional though, dealing with lost secrets and an undying passion that cannot be revealed. Although one of the weaker tracks, it's still pretty good.
4. Tainted of Demons (3:42) (Folk Rock/ Art Rock) (
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Coming straight from the heat of the last song, this is a much more relaxed song. It makes way from the 100% metal of the other two and instead trades it for a progressive, folky rock riff. One of the most unique tracks in all of Minds back catalogue. It is also going to be a single from the album, although the title track will be the launching single.The lyrics in here are going from demented, unusual lyrics to beautiful poetic words. In summary, a highlight.
5. Eve: In the Realms of Hallows (9:10) (Progressive Metal/ Sludge Metal)
Starting off with a mumbled gregorian chant and then what sounds like a spaceship landing, it goes into one of the heaviest riffs in a long, long time. After the riff being played for a minute or two, with strange, indecipherable vocals melting away across the top, it bursts into a beautiful display of guitar pyrotechnics. As the vocals become more and more growled and screeched, the guitars burst into a furious speed metal rampage, before cooling off and fading out. The lyrics here also twist and turn, starting off calm and eventually descending into chaotic shit madness.
6. Weep (4:52) (Groove Metal/ Thrash Metal) (
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A furious riff-fest. Both heavy and melodic, it is like what Mind would have produced on their debut. Any loyal fans will be extremely happy with this album then, since it combines both sides of Mind. They don't slow down at all on this song, rampaging through it all. This along with Tainted of Demons, has high potential to be a single, since its anthemic chorus and headbang-worthy verses make it a metalheads dream. The lyrics are angry, oh so angry.
7. The Scar of the Stars (6:59) (Progressive Rock/ Progressive Metal) (
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An intelligent, technical and spacey song, this offers some of the best guitar work by Mind, ever. From the blazing arpeggios at the start to the epic battle solos towards the end, this is one for any casual Mind fan, young or old. Their are particular influences from old prog rock bands aswell, mostly in the production of the album. The synthesizers are in full play here, whilst all the other instruments blaze across it as if they were naked. There are very few lyrics in this, but they mostly explain about travel in space and shit.
8. Massacre of the Black Sun Rebelllion (2:31) (Interlude/ Narrative)
Now here's something new.. an interlude. The lyrics are about the story solely, so lets move on shall we.Let's hope it leads to something big and fancy.
9. Anthema Sanctuary (6:04) (Extreme Metal/ Industrial Metal) (
Similar to this)
It does. One of the heaviest, yet catchy songs on here, this one equals out the use of synthesizers and the brutal heavy metal of the other albums. It is another one which will probably become a live staple. The angry vocal style of Jason Smith here masks up the melodic backing singing. The chorus has chanting in it, which is pretty cool. This was the first song that was previewed on the bands official website, so you should recognise it.
10. The Aeronaut (5:41) (Industrial Metal/ Electronica) (
Similar to this)
Electronica?! NO!! Is what you're probably thinking right now. Well, don't. It is still metal and Mind-ish, but also has many synthesizer and spacey sounds incorparated inside. Probably the highlight of the album, the vocals are silky smooth and extremely, almost annoyingly catchy. It is also going to be the first single released off of the album. It will be accompanied by a music video (to appear soon) The shameless plugging live has worked.
11. The Rose Petal Path I (Wisdom Call) (8:24) (Progressive Metal/ Speed Metal)
The start of an epic suite of songs, it starts off with a slow build up. The build up lasts for about 30 seconds, before everything is plunged into chaos. It is a furious display of solo combos, heavy riffs and classical sweeps. The real highlight of this is the bass though. It remains technical and groovy throughout the whole song and brings back some energy into Mind. However, the last minute or so ends on an acoustic and slow note, preparing you for the next song.
12. The Rose Petal Path II (Rise of Anthema) (7:08) (Death Metal/ Black Metal)
Beginning with relatively the same sounds as last time, it then goes ito furious blastbeating, whilst the tension builds up and then Jason Smith delivers the best scream of his career. It must go on for, like, 10 seconds. Amazing. Anyway, the rest of the song is a manically fast riff makes sure that the listener is headbanging like they've never headbanged before. Again, this may not stick out, but it is a very good song.
13. The Rose Petal Path III (Entrails of Angels) (4:19) (Extreme Metal/ Speed Metal)
Looking at the name, you would tthink that this was a heavier-than-thou affair... and you'd be right. Undoubtedly the fastest, and arguably the heaviest track on the whole record, it spunds like Mind got into a timewarp and transported back into the heydays of speed and thrash metal. The screeched vocals are in classical Mind style, although the occasional guttural growl manages to find its way inside there, somehow.
14. Airborne Warrior (12:56) (Progressive Metal/ Experimental Metal)
The most epic track tops the album off in an awesome style. It sounds like the bastard child of Dream Theatre and Children of Bodom. Although the latters screams aren't present, the guitar playing more than makes up for it. The first segment of the song is a spacey, atmospheric riff, like a lot of the albums, the second segment is an extremely technical, heavy riff and the final segment of it is an acoustic, almost ambient soundscape which should please most of metals tough crowd.
Let Mind know what your favourite tracks are by giving your feedback here. What did you enjoy? What didn't you? Be prepared.