Last year, Romain decided to leave the band in order to pursue different adventures. We had a great time together and wish him all the best, can't wait to hear what's next for him!
After some productive months of making music together, we're happy to announce our longtime friend Steve Majerus as our new drummer! Some may already know Steve as drummer of Calypso's Call or as the guy who for some reason wears flip flops to a Metal show. The energy and momentum we feel ever since Steve joined sure got us excited for what's to come.
On this second track of our EP we worked with French composer Louis Viallet (Metal With Orchestra) for some epic orchestral arrangements. "Magnificent Steiner" highlights the many struggles Wolfgang Grimmer had to experience as a child in Naoki Urasawa's manga series "Monster". The only positive thing he remembers is a superhero called "Magnificent Steiner" from a cartoon he used to watch, so we made sure to contrast the overall heaviness of the song with parts that feel like they could be in the opening of said superhero show.
Video recorded by Aliona Mathieu. Mixed by Marc Froehling and mastered by Sebastian Levermann.
We are super duper excited to reveal the artwork of our upcoming EP „Monster“, created by the amazing Sabrina Kaufmann, and let you hear the opening track „Tenma“. To some, the guy on the artwork may look a little familiar and that’s not by coincidence: Our EP is based on Naoki Urasawa’s manga series „Monster“ with each song taking a deep dive into one of the characters’ mind.
„Tenma“ plays from protagonist Kenzo Tenma's perspective and aims at highlighting both, his gentle nature and the doubts and the dilemma he’s struggling with, given his monstrous (pun intended) task. At the same time, „Tenma“ is the only song without guest contributions – we still have a few surprises up our sleeves. :D
After we were finally able to enter a stage again at this year's Taunus Metal Festival, we're happy to announce two new gigs!
On June 18th, we'll play the Feuerfänger Festival in Germany, sharing the stage with Mentalist, Ivory Tower, Gravety, Angelcrypt and Trickster's Day. We can't wait to return to the beautiful Saarland. Grab your tickets right here!
Good news came this week when we were confirmed to participate in this year's W:O:A Metal Battle preliminary in Luxembourg. One out of 7 bands gets the chance to perform at the Wacken Open Air, so we're pretty excited.
Children of Bodom impacted former Mindpatrol guitarist and founding member Xavier Hofmann's playing like no other band did. When he came around with the idea to cover their song “Bed of Razors”, it was clear from the start that this would be a rewarding project calling for dedicated musicians.
In order to celebrate the release (finally!) of our 4th album „Ikaria“, we released a lyric video for „Freedom And The Birdcage“.
In this song, wedeal with the question whether freedom can be preserved through raising a wall. While this seems contradictory at first, the song is rooted in the album’s narrative, presenting a situation in which two parties refuse to listen to each other, claiming their only opinion to be the only valid one. Both strive for freedom in their own way, ending up at a stalemate in front of a wall.
„Freedom And The Birdcage“ is probably the most challenging song we ever wrote. This complexity, however, is contrasted by a straightforward chorus inviting the listener to sing along right before diving head first in deep Prog waters again. The song was written with former guitarist and founding member Xavier Hofmann (Pleasing, We Knew John Doe), a seemingly avid lover of odd time signatures.
The song’s narrative is illustrated with artworks created by Stéphane Pianon, who was also in charge of the album artwork. Sacha Ewen (Pleasing, Fawldeer, We Knew John Doe) created the video, while the mixing and mastering duties were executed by Sebastian Levermann (Orden Ogan).
We wish to thank Luxembourg's Ministry of Culture and Sacem for supporting "Ikaria".
After our first single "Stainless White" was one of the more melodic tunes of "Ikaria", let's switch to destructive mode! "Terminus" is fast, dark and angry.
This is no coincidence: the main riff was written by former Mindpatrol member and Fusion Bomb guitarist Miguel Teixeira Sousa – this guy knows how to wreak havoc! A hertfelt thank you for your contribution and all the good times we had and will have, brother!
The song's mood is reflected in the artwork, which was created by Stéphane Pianon and shows the story’s protagonist moments before taking the hardest decision in her entire life.
It felt like we've been waiting for ages, now the wait is over! The first single "Stainless White" from the upcoming album "Ikaria" is out now and we couldn't be happier!
The video was directed by Cindy Santos and features Ana Carina Marinheiro Neto and local literature critic Jérôme Jaminet as actors. Working with them, Cindy and her crew was an incredibly rewarding experience – to the extent that this crazy 24-hour-shot almost felt like a walk in the park.
New album “Ikaria” out on June 4th via Green Zone Music!
On our 4th album “Ikaria”, we explore the seemingly perfect city of Ikaria, a place purged from crime and vile intent thanks to an omnipresent mind monitoring mechanism. The story plays in parallel to the events of our last album “Vulture City” and is accompanied by a self-written German novel for those who like to dive deeper.
After the line-up changes that followed “Vulture City”, we made sure to take our time and create a concept album that reflects everything Mindpatrol stands for in 2021. Balancing proggy craziness and moody moments, heavy neckbreakers and even a straight, hooky riff once in a while, we let our creativity flow in whatever direction the story called for.
“Ikaria” was mixed and mastered by Sebastian Levermann (Orden Ogan) in his Greenman Studios.
Tracklist: 1. Porcelain Skin 2. Permanent Solution 3. To Raise Another Wall 4. Stainless White 5. What The Birds Don't Know 6. Freedom And The Birdcage 7. Ikaria 8. Unsung Healing Song 9. Trial Of A Simple Man 10. Terminus 11. Guilt 12. After I Called The Flame
The artwork of “Ikaria” was created by Stéphane Pianon.
We'd like to thank Luxembourg's Ministry of Culture and Sacem for supporting the realization of this project!
We spent the last three days at the BigVish headquarters to record the drums for our upcoming album with the wonderful Dennis Koehne. A pleasure it was! We learned many valuable lessons, had a perfect working atmosphere with enough room for a joke or twenty and the drums might have turned out allright.
