Goldenseed - The War Is in My Mind (2012)

Featuring the talented multi-instrumentalist Gabriele Pala, today we have Goldenseed’s third full-length release “The War is in my Mind”. In this one-man solo-project, Gabriele delivers 11 songs clocking around 52 minutes of very interesting Progressive/Shred Metal that greatly highlight his musical skills. Each of the songs feature excellent guitar work and very solid composition skills, something that many multi-instrumentalists seem to lack and favor showing off their skills instead.

With a very space-oriented nature, “The War Is in My Mind” kicks off with “The R38 Class”. This song features very lush keyboards and a very typical Progressive Metal. While sounding very similar to bands like Ayreon and such, Goldenseed chooses not to ruin things and does not use vocals in this release (except in the last song). Pala’s guitar skills are nicely introduced little by little and never go full on over the top, but instead they complement the music nicely.

One of our biggest issues with multi-instrumentalist releases is that usually they do drum programming and this sounds extremely fake. The drums in this release are not complicated or anything, but they still sound fake and this is a turn off. We like that at least they are not your typical fake blast beats. Other than this, the rest of the instruments are handled graciously and they all come together very nicely as well.

Tracks like “An Homage to Frank” and “A Million Random Digits” have a more playful and experimental feeling to them, making them stand out from the rest and change the flow of the album very graciously. Other tracks like: “The Enhancer Trap”,  “GIS Transition” and “Argonite Sea”, will be very appealing for Shred fans due to their excellent guitar work.

While there are tons and tons of multi-instrumentalist solo albums, “The War Is in My Mind” is probably one of the most entertaining ones out there. Gabriele Pala does a great job in crafting actual songs and lets his skills shine through the flow of his compositions, not rubbing them in the listeners face (ears). If you like skillful music that is actually focusing on the music side of things, give this release a try.

Release: January 27th, 2012

Country: Italy