Vicky
Is this the last album I’m late with? Probably not. But is it at least worthy of a review? Absolutely. It reminded me that Prog Metal can also be mellow, without too many jazzy additions (as in, saxophone solo, overuse of keyboards, and others). Don’t get me wrong, those are pleasant too, but sometimes, the bands who appreciate them tend to forget that the point of prog metal is… metal, actually.
Echoes of the Hypermind reminded me in a way of the countless days spent listening to Dream Theater and Leprous, even though the lead vocalist, Marko Loukamaa, is quite far from James LaBrie and quite a few miles away from Einar Solberg. Overall, I would say that the album classifies as something quite middle range in terms of quality. The production however exceeds that of most prog albums I’ve listened to in the past few months, which in all honesty says more about those LPs than it does about Echoes of the Hypermind.
The primary thing that I did enjoy regarding this album was the title of the first track off it, which is “I Think, I Am.” I think that the renowned French polymath René Descartes (a.k.a. the dude who said dubito ergo cogito, cogito ergo sum, which translates from Latin to I doubt therefore I think, I think therefore I am) would have probably been proud of that song, as it is clearly the best one off the entire LP, thanks to a talented female singer apparently not credited. The song “Supreme” was a downgrade from “I Think, I Am”, with vocalist Marko Loukamaa attempting to hit some high Einar Solberg-esque notes, with an emphasis on the word “attempting”, as the result is… Disappointing, to put it nicely. The lyrics I will change the world taken from this particular song are somewhat wasted. At least the keyboards (also by Loukamaa) are spot on. At times, one can even hear growls on songs such as “Wonder”, which I am assuming are provided as well by Loukamaa, and they don’t fail to make the track better. Also, credits to the backing vocals sang by the keyboard player and the guitarist who also did the cover art (see next row).
Guitarists Harri Annala and Ari Lempinen (the latter also having done the cover art) seem to be the pillars of Sum of Seven, alongside the never-ending keyboards, and they turn tracks from doom to prog to doom again, to heavy, and to whatever else their hearts desire. The best part about it, though, is that their talent is showcased best on the song “Shattered Symmetry, Part I”, which is an instrumental track designed, I’m guessing, to help Loukamaa recover from those high notes on song two from this album. The second part of the “Shattered Symmetry” also has some delicious guitar solos that almost make you forget the fact that the band did a whole “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi thing at the beginning of the song with the distortion.
To sum of seven this up, Echoes of the Hypermind is neither genius nor awful, it’s somewhere in the middle, the band having the potential to become the next [insert your prog metal band of choice] wannabe. Maybe next time Loukamaa sticks to what he knows to sing best or they learn how to make the distortion good enough so we don’t notice the flaws. Either way, the material is decent.
Label: Inverse Records
Release date: May 15, 2026
Website (legit, this time): https://www.sumofsevenofficial.com/
Country: Finland
Score: 3.2/5.0
Metal Eclipse Reviews 