Mindwarp Chamber - Delusional Reality (2008)

The first association that comes to mind when listening to Mindwarp Chamber's debut is Symphony X. These guys sometimes really sound like Michael Romeo's brainchild, but Delusional Reality is much darker. Of course the singer has got yet a lot of room for improvement in order to match with Russell Allen (if it is ever possible), but he sings pretty well and his high-pitched screams (check out Precious Time) are not annoying at all. The technical level of all the musicians is insane! Be it the galloping and sophisticated bass-lines on Snowdevil Sleeps or traditional lightspeed keyboard vs. guitar duels - you should expect high-class musicianship in all the fields from these guys. Anyway, it's typical for a prog metal band (you know, when starting-up a prog metal band it is assumed as a basis that the musicians are technically proficient).
Now the downsides: this album doesn't have the magic and the songwriting level leaves much to be desired. Yes, it's technical, yes it's neat but the music lacks something we often call 'soul'. Without this magic component Mindwarp Chamber remain just a good progressive metal band with great musicianship skills.

I would suggest this to all prog metal lovers (Symphony X fans should check this anyway in order to draw a comparison). If you are not very much into this genre, I'd recommend to start with something more enticing.

Review by Dismayer

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