MENTALIST – A Journey Into The Unknown

Strength in unity

In these difficult times for the world of culture, you can always count on Melodic Metal band Mentalist to infuse a dose of optimism in your daily struggle. The German band does not spare any effort to bring you A Journey Into The Unknown, their second album in only two years. Making the best of the situation, and with the lack of opportunity to tour, you can only be thankful for this release, especially when the result is outstanding.

Once again, Rob Lundgren proves his versatility and mastery of vocal techniques. After all, he is one of the few capable of convincingly covering André Matos’ songs (check out his YouTube channel). The combination of Thomen Stauch (ex-Blind Guardian, until A Night At The Opera), Kai Stringer (ex-Starchild), and Peter Moog’s talent is particularly efficient as well. Mentalist also recruited prestigious guests to back them up on this new record: Oliver Palotai (Kamelot), Mike LePond (Symphony X), and Henning Basse (Metalium, Firewind). All the ingredients are combined for an excellent record.

Daring and improving

If you enjoyed their first release, there is a very good chance you will like this one even more. Mentalist draw their inspiration from today’s politics and they critic our societies with a good dose of irony(ex: “Torture King.”) Their music thus appears as one of the last honest means of expression, free of the mass media tricks and lies, with a sound always clear, sharp, and precise. Their songs are infused with optimism and hope, despite the depressing depiction they make of the world.

There is not a single bad song on this record. Throughout the ten songs, they managed to find the balance between their influences and their own musical identity, with enough originality and varied atmospheres. From the epic opening hymn “A Journey Into the Unknown” to the equally theatrical “Live Forever”, you will find all the catchy choruses, and lyrical flights you need to survive another bleak year. Even “An Ocean So Deep” does not fail in the difficult exercise of writing a compelling Metal ballad. A special mention goes to “Dentalist” which is both smashing and hilarious. Not only do they deliver a truly great album, but they also take the liberty, the risk even, of ending the record with a cover of a cheesy pop song: “Manchild” originally by Neneh Cherry. The result is rather fun.

A Journey Into the Unknown is a success and will take you, maybe not as far as the Unknown, but just where you needed to be to feel better.

Best tracks: “Evil Eye”, ” A Journey Into the Unknown”, “Dentalist”