Metalcatto
Here I am again, helping those who are making Metal with their bare hands and gaining promo points by basically sending us a nice presentation email. It’s incredible how good manners still get you far in life, kids! Anyway, Mind:Field is a one-man Prog/Death Metal project, and that’s just as promising as it is dreadful in a way. Will An Atonement of Existence be a refreshing show of creativity, or are we going to be left with nothing but excess and regret? Kind of the way you feel after you empty that bag of fries in less than five minutes. Hopefully, this will hurt my blood pressure less. It’s time!
So, the first thing that struck me about Atonement was its diversity. Sure, in the beginning, you might think this is some sort of Sylosis tribute, but the project shows many faces in no time. You get songs with ultra-thick riffs, more Heavy Metal–like ballads, complex instrumentals, and somehow the album doesn’t throw any Djent Morse code at me (which is what some of those bands sound like). This is a musician showing everything he’s capable of, but not in a wanky way—the tracks remain engaging and stick to the mission of writing interesting and fun songs.
A lot of what makes the album enticing is how heavily it leans on its riffs. They guide the rest of the instruments and, though that might feel old school to those of you who’ve been here for a long time, the songwriting still comes together as one piece. There’s equal love for all things Thrash and Prog here, but with a modern sound. I keep thinking of Black Sites too, maybe because of the no-nonsense attacks throughout. I don’t know, can I say this is Proggy Lamb of God? Or would that be a criminal offense in twenty different countries? Good thing the internet is a lawless land. Anyway, time to talk about what Mind:Field could polish in the future, according to my snobbish opinion.
There’s an impressive amount of talent in this album, especially when you consider how few people are involved. Having said that, the album has two main areas for improvement. One is the pacing—there are so many cool ideas here that it’s hard to make them all feel like a cohesive entity instead of just songs placed next to each other. The second is the length; the album does feel a bit long, but that’s part of the same issue. Too many options demand more time for our primal brains to process.
Either way, if you don’t care about what I just mentioned and you want to give the deep underground a chance (and this chance isn’t recorded with a potato inside a car), then Atonement is an album for you! It’s not every day you get home-made Prog/Groove Metal, since this usually requires a lot more money to pull off. Maybe Mind:Field is a trust-fund baby, but as far as I can see, this is all remarkable hard work—so cherish it, you bastards!
Label: Independent
Release date: August 8, 2025
Website: https://www.facebook.com/MINDFIELDprog#
Country: Germany
Score: 3.8/5.0, but I’m being demanding!
Metal Eclipse Reviews 