MMX (E)

Mindgames ​belongs to one of Belgium's best bands in the genre of progressive and symphonic rock. With MMX the quintet released in 2010 its third album in eight years, named after that year in Roman figures. The lyrics are based on travels, every day events, the present and the future. Just like on the previous album Actors In A Play (2006), producer Frank van Bogaert was responsible for the production and his voice can be heard on The Pendulum. Being a producer, he helped to shape the band's sound: clear, very well balanced and polished. The Source is a nice opening track in the vein of Genesis, period Duke (1980). It's traditional symphonic rock, well-crafted and performed with passion. In the same vein but much slower is Glory Of Night ​on which nice subtle bass playing can be heard by Maximilian von Wüllersdorf. The straight-forward and clear voice of singer Bart Schram matches the music perfectly and the drumming of Benny Petak is never over the top, but always refined. After some three minutes of smooth and mellow music it's time to shift into a higher gear. The guitar of Rudy Vander Veken and the keyboards of Tom Truyens bring more of harder rocking edge. Some very nice hooks there and Schram sings a bit higher in the more powerful pieces. Musically there seem to be influences from bands like Arena. Vander Veken plays a really tasteful solo in the laidback interlude. This is my favourite track because it has everything good symphonic and progressive music should have. Acoustic guitar, bass and vocal can be heard in the first part of In My Humble Opinion... Later on some strings, piano and percussion follow but the music remains quite mellow, even when Vander Veken plays a nice and melodic solo. In Travel you can appreciate a fine example of melodic symphonic music in the vein of Genesis - period Duke again - but also a big piece with references to the album Wish You Were Here (1975) by Pink Floyd. There's an awesome Moog-solo by Truyens and an interlude of almost electronic music with lots of spacey effects. Truyens' keyboards take over and the first theme returns. Schram has to sing a bit over the top here. Truyens' piano opens Outside The Gloom and Schram's vocals join him. Softly sung high notes, accompanied by keyboards and later by the full band, are alternated with some singing in the vein of Peter Gabriel. Some changes in tempo and different themes contribute to the diversity of the musical genres in this track, where pop, prog and rock music come together. There are even some parts where I recognize the sound of Uriah Heep. Destination Sky is a bit heavier and with clear references to Grendel by Marillion and thus also the last part of Supper's Ready by Genesis. The last part of the track features Truyens' synth solo and Vander Veken's guitar. The final track is The Pendulum, the longest one on the album and a real epic. The song starts majestic with orchestral keyboards and Schram's spoken words are the prelude to a piece of beautiful but rather plain straight-forward symphonic pop. The middle-section consists of an atmospheric keyboard driven part with a dialogue between Frank van Bogaert and Bart Schram about the history and future of mankind and its discoveries, followed by a very nice up-tempo piece of music, with references to Arena and IQ. Then a slower piece with again spoken words, the same theme is presented in another arrangement with Schram singing and an acoustic guitar soloing. Gently, the full band joins in and Truyens' keyboards are getting more bombastic and orchestral every minute. Vander Veken shows his abilities but instead of a genuine climax with a dazzling duet between synth and guitar, the band chose to let the music fade away, dying in beauty.

MMX is a really nice both melodic and symphonic album with a feel for theatrics and detail. A worthy successor to Actors In A Play but it's clear the band sticks to their sound, their comfort-zone and refrains from taking bold steps or adding new elements to their music. Not a groundbreaking album, but very tasteful and overall atmospherically comparable to albums by for instance Castanarc.