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PROGRESSIVE ROCK & PROGRESSIVE METAL (BR) - 10 / 10 18.6.2009

Pay heed to the siren calls! Run to the nearest antinuclear shelter!!!

A new danger is falling down over you - and it is coming from the unsuspected Bulgaria! The name of the new menace is Pantommind, and beware! Like a biological warfare germ it will infect your mind, turning you immediately into an addicted fan. Few times I have suffered such devastating effect but this band really rocks! The history of Pantommind began in 1993 in the small town of Gabrovo, Bulgaria, when Pete Christ (guitars and keyboards), Floyd Rossen (guitars) and some friends founded a band called "Lavender Haze". In 1995 Tony Ivan (vocals) and Drago (drums) entered the band that switched the name for Pantommind. In 1999, with Dean the Boss on bass, and former "Lavender Haze" member Jiip Randam as engineer and producer, the band recorded a full length demo, Farewell, that was reviewed first hand here at Progressiverockbr (see under Reviews 2000). In 2003 the band had some line-up changes: Dean and Floyd Rossen left, and were replaced by Dido (bass) and Peter Vichew (guitar); and SunnyX (keyboards) was admitted. With this line-up, Pantommind released the first album in 2005 - Shade of Fate (Lucretia Records/Sensory Records), welcomed both by public and specialized press.

The new release Lunasense (2009 - Spectastral Records, USA) brings a pounding and aggressive sonority, performed by matured and top-skilled musicians that exude the highest loyalty to True Metal. The influences are mainly from the Golden Age (70s to 80s), covering many subgenres from Traditional ("Black Sabbath", "Dio", "Judas Priest", "Rainbow") to Power-Speed-Thrash ("Jag Panzer", "Queensryche", "Crimson Glory", "Savatage", "Helloween", "Megadeth", "Annihilator" ); and from Black-Doom ("Mercyful Fate", "Candlemass", "Memento Mori") to the elaborated Neoclassical ("Malmsteen") and Progressive ("Rush" and "Fates Warning"). Pantommind, however, has a style of its own, standing shoulder to shoulder with other exponents of Power Progressive Metal, such as "Symphony X", "Dream Theater", "Redemption", "Evergrey", "Vanden Plas", "Psychotic Waltz", "Shadow Gallery" and "Threshold". And they deserve a place on that podium, for Lunasense will, from the very beginning, blow your mind out of your brains and implode the rest down to pieces of subatomic size. The album opens with the instrumental Transmission Part 1, followed by one of the best metal songs ever - Erasable Tears unveiling the bands style. The keyboards of Sunny X are more climatic and supportive than virtuous, and stay on the distant horizon, hovering above clouds that are pregnant of electricity, forecasting the thunderstorm that is to come. Tsunami-sized waves of guitar solos roll over, introducing the guitar duo Pete Christ and Peter Vichew, who act together with the same biomechanical precision of the jaws of a Jurassic predator. Nervous and malevolent killing riffs are molten with light-speed solos that run to meet Tony Ivan, whose high-toned voice and interpretative skills are not heard very often. On the third track - Wolf - Tony uses his steel-made vocal chords to rocket up his voice to unbelievable stratospheric levels, reaching the highest notes a deed only achieved by one chosen by the Metal Gods to incarnate both Harry The Tyrant Conklin ("Jag Panzer") and Midnight ("Crimson Glory"). Meanwhile, the rhythm section is carried out by Drago, whose drumming is at the same time technical and earthquaking. The resounding bass of Pete Christ helps to fill the empty spaces. The cannonading allows a quick truce for the slower-cadenced and heavy Sandglass and Letter to No One, which rescue from the limbo that spooky mood of "Crimson Glory" and "Memento Mori". Things turn lighter on To the Days of Old (with guest vocalist Colleen Gray) - a progressive track that revive old "Fates Warning" (album Awaken the Guardian). Transmission Part 2 is a tranquil interlude, with piano and keyboards, before Blank a song like "Jag Panzer", with excellent vocals of Tony Ivan. The story-telling My Home (Into Infinity) approaches Pantommind to the current Power Progressive Metal of "Symphony X", including some guitar solos that would let Michael Romeo sleepless. The album finally ends with Ill Never be the Same a dark song inspired by "Crimson Glory" that has the perfect title to describe the albums side-effect I will never be the same after having listened to Pantommind.

Pantommind is Ultra-highly recommended for Progressive Metal fans and everybody else.


Marcelo Trotta (Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal E-Zine)