Back From The Edge is the second album from power metal outfit MindMaze, following on from 2013’s offering Mask Of Lies, and although it’s a decent enough release, it does feel a little rushed and almost incomplete at times.
It gets off to a good enough start, with the title track serving as a gripping opener, and the band has this great energy to their sound. The vocals have a lot of colour and the instrumentation is exciting, really helping to draw you into the piece, but unfortunately it doesn’t quite last as the album progresses.
Quite simply, there just isn’t enough variety and it’s like MindMaze have taken the same formula and have applied it to each one of the eight tracks, and whilst it worked for the opener, it gets a little samey after a while. It does feel like MindMaze have rushed to create a follow-up to Mask Of Lies, rather than take some time out to really nail down a truly unique offering. It’s disappointing because the band is clearly capable of better; there’s a lot of promise within Back From The Edge but they’re not quite reaching their full potential.
Back From The Edge is certainly not a bad listen, but for the time-being, there’s definitely better stuff out there.
5/10
