{"id":40592,"date":"2014-05-21T06:09:23","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T11:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=40592"},"modified":"2014-05-21T06:09:23","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T11:09:23","slug":"mindcage-our-own-devices-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/mindcage-our-own-devices-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindcage | Our Own Devices<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Mindcage2013\u2019s Our Own Devices<\/em> is the debut full-length album from American progressive\/power metal band Mindcage, one of the more promising bands to hit the scene in recent years. Mindcage\u2019s sound is clearly influenced by classic Queensryche and early Fates Warning, and there are similarities to Nevermore as well.<\/p>\n

Our Own Devices<\/em> is a concept album with a dystopian\/sci-fi storyline, which, along with Jeff Hignite\u2019s piercing voice (like Geoff Tate used to sound) and the guest female vocals only solidifies the Queensryche comparison. Factor in the heaviness and crunch of the guitars and the overall pace of the album and you really do get a Nevermore doing Operation: MindCrime<\/em> vibe here. This is a really well put together progressive metal album. The conceptual elements are interesting, there\u2019s a good deal of technicality in the musicianship, the vocals are strong, there\u2019s a real heaviness and power on display, and the songwriting is quite solid. Sure, it\u2019s familiar territory, but Mindcage does play this kind of music very well.<\/p>\n

Obviously being a concept album, Our Own Devices<\/em> works best as a cohesive whole, but it does have a few tracks that stand out, like \u201cThe Human Race\u201d (with guest vocals by Hydrogen\u2019s Julie Westlake), \u201cFirefly\u201d and the two-part \u201cRenaissance\u201d suite \u2013 \u201cThe Serenity Sequence\u201d and \u201cThe Grand Restoration\u201d – that close the album in such a grand fashion.<\/p>\n

This is a very impressive debut from a band with a lot of potential. Mindcage has the technical chops to appeal to progressive metal fans, the melodies, powerful vocals and storyline that power metal fans should appreciate, and they put it all together very well. If you\u2019re a fan of classic Queensryche, Fates Warning, and Crimson Glory, as well as more recent releases by Nevermore, Artizan and Pharaoh, Our Own Devices is an album that\u2019s well worth picking up.<\/p>\n

Genre: Progressive Metal, Power Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nDietrick Hardwick (g)
\nJeff Hignite (v)
\nCraig Nudo (d)
\nBrian Howell (b)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tCadence March
\n2.\tFor All Mankind (The Dark Design)
\n3.\tOur Own Devices
\n4.\tThe Human Race
\n5.\tAt Full Steam
\n6.\tFirefly
\n7.\tThe One Constant
\n8.\tArabella\u2019s Arc
\n9.\tThe Serenity Sequence (Renaissance Pt. I)
\n10.\tThe Grand Restoration (Renaissance Pt. II)<\/p>\n

Label: Kinematic<\/p>\n

Website: www.mindcagemusic.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — 2013\u2019s Our Own Devices is the debut full-length album from American progressive\/power metal band Mindcage, one of the more promising bands to hit the scene in recent […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,9333,9331,9332,1097,1098],"class_list":{"0":"post-40592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-kinematic","10":"tag-mindcage","11":"tag-our-own-devices","12":"tag-power-metal","13":"tag-progressive-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}