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Echoes From Afar

    
       
       
       
     
             
Parallel Minds are a heavy metal band from France who released their debut full length album 'Headlong Disaster' in 2015, with the four song E.P. 'Unplugged Disaster' following later the same year. The bands second full length album 'Every Hour Wounds... The Last One Kills' emerged in 2019, and was a thunderous ride showcasing Parallel Minds vision to explore and break into other genres of metal - with the bands new album 'Echoes From Afar' (released in 2022), stretching their genre breaking vision even further...    
             
...their blend of heavy, thrash and progressive metal is radically advanced, full of new ideas, moving in directions even I didn't see coming! And as I've had four decades of listening to how metal bands continually change and evolve their sound over the years, I really should have seen some of them coming! But maybe, as I'm more drawn to the energy and oomph of the traditional, power, and thrash metal genres, I've tended to overlook the progressive direction of bands such as Parallel Minds. Even one of the earliest progressive metal bands Voivod, I just couldn't "get into" - maybe as a rebellious eighties teenager I didn't have the vision to see, and fully understand what progressive metal was all about, much preferring the energy, excitement and exhilaration of the pace and power of bands such as Iron Maiden, Helloween, Motorhead, the Big Four and the Teutonic Four. But with age comes maturity, and a wider understanding of progressive metal - still not a top listening choice - but a much higher one than it ever used to be.    
             
So then, 'Echoes From Afar' - a monumental seventy minutes, featuring ten truly amazing songs varying in length from five or six minutes to the albums stunning twelve minute finale! Even the opening song 'Feel The Force' clocks in at over nine minutes - an incredible length for an album opener. Normally opening songs are short and punchy, intended to immediately grab your attention and scream "listen to me" right in your face. Parallel Minds have chosen the exact opposite of short and punchy, opting for long and epic - the visions of vocalist Stephane Fradet and guitarist Gregory Giraudo creating an innovative blend of styles that knows no boundaries! For each and every song on offer has a different feel, vibe, ambience, or whatever descriptive word you prefer to use.    
             
You have the bands root progressive sound featuring heavily in the head bang-able 'No Fate', switching to a much thrashier feel for 'Angel's Battle', and then a complete one eighty turnaround for the futuristic feel and mellow serenity of the ballad 'Stay' - the air filled with a light and airy atmosphere. With the production and arrangements pushing the envelope further than ever before, 'Echoes From Afar' will take many more listens than just the one to fully grasp all of the albums complex and diverse subtleties. The band touch on current affairs with 'Monkey On My Back' - the opening news footage referencing the COVID-19 pandemic, and the devastating effect it has had on humanity. The addition of secondary, metalcore styled vocals adds more venom and bite to a song that lyrically will touch us all. 'The Hiding Place' lifts the dour subjectivity of the previous song, bringing forth images of a summer stroll in the countryside.    
             
Parallel Minds are riding a roller coaster of emotions with their new album, hitting the more hustle and bustle nature of traditional metal with 'Our Last Resort', and picking up the tempo for the highly infectious 'Mythic River'. And as the album heads into its final quarter, the fullness of ambition is realised more than ever - 'Provider Of Sin' moving into the realms of hymn-like majesty coupled with doom laden riffage. Two styles that have as much distance between them as the sun and the moon - yet Parallel Minds effortlessly sews them together to deliver a highly engaging anthem. And now for the albums finale - the twelve minute showstopper to end all showstoppers! 'The Greater Gift' is a mesmerising meld of a multitude of metal styles. You have the serenity of a piano led crescendo (as the song comes to life), pace and tempo changes galore, hard hitting and abrasive passages, and female vocals! And of course, the bands unique boundary breaking barrage of different musical styles.    
             
Overall, a terrific journey of musical diversity and emotive changes across an expansive display of progressive virtuosity.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Metal Gods TV    
             
             
Other Reviews    
             

           
           
Headlong Disaster      
           
"very heavy, heavy metal blended with other genres such as power and rock to create a spectacular roller coaster ride of awesome music" Read Review      
     
     
     
           
             
             

           
           
Every Hour Wounds...The Last One Kills      
           
"a thunderous and very heavy ride of relentless heavy metal from a band not afraid to explore various genres of metal music" Read Review      
     
     
     
           
             
             
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