Hailing from Italy, Mind’s Cove released their debut album towards the end of last year. It’s eight tracks of melodic metal and it shows a lot of promise.
Listening through, there are some decent riffs and overall a couple of good songs but I have to it I wasn’t impressed with the production. It’s very “tinny” with the drums in particular being very harsh. Where I prefer pounding, these have too much treble. The vocals are best when singer Matteo Melita is really belting them out, not so good in the softer moments.
These issues aside, it’s not a bad collection. “Early Sun”, which was released as a video some time ago and which you can check out below, is a good one to pick. It mixes the band’s heavier moments with their lighter (melodic) ones, though the two sides contrast sharply within this one song. I prefer a track which picks one side of the fence and sits on it, maybe quickly setting a foot down on the other side to mix things up a bit.
“Broken Stones” is the other track the band have released separately and it’s more of a middle-of-the-road rocker… and all the better for it. Replete with odd time changes, it does make you ask why the band don’t mention their prog influences more often as they’re very much on show here. It’s less disted than “Early Sun”, but suffers from the same rattling drums above all else.
“Black Tickets” isn’t bad once it gets going, and “Mirrors” features some great guitar solos. There are lots of little highlights, but the whole package just doesn’t reach the standards of its component parts. The guitar and bass work throughout the album is of a high standard. I know I mention the drums a lot and I’d like to clarify that the musicianship from Andrea Calabrò is without question, it’s the sound of his kit that bugs me.
Mind’s Cove definitely have a lot of musical ability between them, but I just don’t feel that Drift does them justice.
Drift is out now.
Mind’s Cove: facebook
