After a break of around ten years, their latest album 'Paradox Of Choices' dating from 2015, the Belgians from 'Mindgames' return with a new studio recording, 'Spirals in the Wider Space' which adds to the progressive rock releases of this already busy year in this area. This group was created in 1997 and has released 4 opuses in around twenty years, which gives a small average of around one album every 5 years. This latest baby from the Belgians smells like an imaginative and refined progressive and I let myself be deliciously carried away by the 12 compositions that comprise 'Spirals in the Wider Space' and which offer a short hour of listening.
A few furrows of a scratched LP begin 'Introlude' which is an original introduction by making us discover samples of each title which allows you to enter, to have a glimpse of what awaits you in the album. 'Godlike Strangers' is introduced by acoustic guitar which we will find quite often throughout the opus, and the atmosphere of this title alternates light parts and other more powerful parts, the quieter parts reminding me of style of Al Stewart', the singing of 'Bart Schram' being no stranger to it, then, 'Who Are You Anyway?' is a heavier and more tormented mid-tempo with a memorable melody and a very beautiful guitar solo in the middle of the title followed by a magnificent acoustic break in a jazzy atmosphere before returning to the starting theme on the finale. We continue with 'High Above The Clouds' which begins calmly by unfolding a beautiful melody at a slow tempo and which then hardens the tone with a faster rhythm, while keeping a light side thanks to radiant vocal harmonies, the end of the title returning to the atmosphere of the beginning. After the short country acoustic guitar comma with birdsong, without transition, 'Tears Of Civilization' takes us into a new ballad on which the very beautiful melody delicately tickles our senses and it is again 'Al Stewart' which comes to mind in the calm parts, then, 'Economanico' regains vigor on a more marked rhythm and is catchy and very exotic, the solo of the two guitars being a real joy and the acoustic passage in the middle of the title bringing a very original exotic side. The alternation between different atmospheres continues with 'A Sharp Revolution' which is a beautiful ballad on which we let ourselves be rocked delicately, then, 'Turning In Circles' continues in this calm summer atmosphere conducive to escape and it seems to me hear the sound of cicadas in the introduction!! The short guitar instrumental 'Lion's Fate' serves as an introduction to 'Forever Endeavor' which deploys 7 minutes of alternations between strong moments and weak moments bringing a good dose of progressive, and which overall remains quite calm, then, 'A Much Place Better' ends this beautiful opus with a song with a catchy melody that takes us back a few decades in a 'Beatlesian' atmosphere.
In summary, we have a great time listening to this latest studio recording by the Belgians of 'Mindgames' who, after a ten-year absence, remember us and take us on board again in their world of progressive rock with melodic lines that hook the listener from the first listen, which makes 'Spirals in the Wider Space' an album to add to the already long list of very good progressive releases of the year 2024... | |
