A massive EP release from State of Mind brings together a flurry of metal influences that blend classic and driving metal with melodic overtones and valid style songwriting, and this all begins to create an atmosphere as you listen through.
One of the things that grabs you about the Sanity Of Madness EP is how these guys perform. Something gives me the feeling that the tracks were recorded live on the floor to an extent and everyone involved was feeding off of each other's energies.
Being able to pull off this kind of intensity in terms of the energies that are fluctuating throughout the record is no easy feat but these guys really pulled it off to the point where listening to this record makes you want to go see them perform it.
There's almost nothing better than listening to a band and almost immediately realizing that seeing them live would be awesome.
The guitar tones are really important throughout this record because they really set the aesthetic and the atmosphere for it all. A lot of these songs do have a sort of vast undertone that makes them almost cinematic or even theatrical in a way and the guitar riffs and progressions are a huge part of making those come to life.
This whole release is like an escape. It can really pull you away from wherever you are or whatever you're doing and put you in this other world for a certain amount of time and that to me is kind of like a gift musically.
Some of the songs come right in with a more thrashing and heavy hitting metal style rather than the ballot approach and those ones really hit hard and have a unique guitar tone and set of riffs as well.
No matter which style you're getting on this record, you're going to get those intensities coming and you're going to be able to feel those in your bones.
This is like an arena rock metal band that knows exactly what they're going for and definitely hits it with a very particular approach that brings you bouts of nostalgia but also a refreshing style at the same time.
These tracks are lush and bountiful with amazing guitar work, harmonies, the bass guitars are outstanding, and the drumming is in the pocket but also brings that little bit of liveliness to the table as well.
The vocalist is outstanding the entire time. He is really what adds and bills to that theatrical and classic metal feel with his belting and melodic approach.
This is a record with layers and it's super fun to listen to the whole thing all the way through.
Listening to one or two tracks from this six track EP may give you a little idea of what you can expect but does not give you the full spectrum of what the EP has to offer as a whole.
This is a record that you don't want to miss out on. You don't want to skip songs or just listen to the first or second tracks.
To an extent, this almost feels like this is a concept record of sorts because it feels sort of like these songs interconnect in different ways.
The lyrics are deepening, can be existential, or can tell stories that you get attached to which gives them a particular personality as well.
You can tell this is done by a band who has a real love for their craft and when I say that I don't just mean playing their instruments or singing, I mean writing songs together to put something impactful into the world.
Having grown up in a time when classic metal was at its height, I definitely enjoyed this from beginning to end.
These guys thrive in their element and writing songs that are progressive, and expansive, but also pack a punch that blends personality with edginess is their forte.
An amazingly performed and extremely well-written record all the way through, I highly suggest you listen to this one info and do so either loud or with headphones on.
Listening with headphones lets you soak in those layers a bit more. There are plenty of layers and textures in terms of the guitars, bass guitar tones, vocals, and everything else.
It also lets you soak in the lyrics a bit more as well. This is actually the kind of record you want to listen to more than once so you can pick up on the things you missed the first time.
An outstanding job by all parts, dive into this record as soon as you can and remember where you heard it first.
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