MENTALIST – Empires Falling

A run-off the road

Mentalist, the German Power Metal band wasted no time between their last album and this new one. Just one year after the release of the excellent A Journey Into The Unknown, the band is back with Empires Falling.

While they kept the same recipe of Power Metal, with energic riffs, entertaining melodies, and catchy choruses, it seems this time they forgot a key ingredient: inspiration. While A Journey Into The Unknown was inventive, fun, and entertaining Empires Falling fails to inspire the same feelings.

A mechanical release

While the production of this new record is just as clear and polished as the previous one, it lacks fantasy and imagination, it is too flat and uniform. The opening title “Solution Revolution” is not as enjoyable as any track from A Journey Into The Unknown, perhaps the fault lies with the lyrics: very descriptive and a rather boring history class. The opening riff of “Stairs Of Ragusa” was pleasant enough but the chorus and vocal line do not allow it to become truly memorable. It is one of the problems with this album: Rob Lundgren is still an excellent vocalist and his performance on this album is not bad. It just seems that the songs are empty of feelings or originality.

The very descriptive style of the lyrics is still present on the title track “Empires Falling”, however, this is perhaps one of the most enjoyable songs on the album. The instrumental parts manage to revive the former glory of the band. “If You Really Want” is an attempt at a more catchy approach to their Power Metal, but again not entirely successful. “Generation Legacy” fares a little better with a good chorus, like “Out Of The Darkness”. Slightly more Progressive, the album’s second half still features some pleasing instrumental parts.

Final thoughts

Perhaps time was at fault here. Mentalist should have used more time to gather different inspirations for their new album instead of following the same recipe. It gives off the impression that they put all of their ideas into it, without taking the time to sort or arrange them. At times unnecessarily dramatic and at times too similar to what the band has already done, Empires Falling is not that great a release.

Empire Falling – Tracklist

1. Solution Revolution
2. Stairs Of Ragusa
3. Tears Within A Paradise
4. Empires Falling
5. If You Really Want
6. Columbus
7. Noah’s Ark
8. Generation’s Legacy
9. Heavy Metal Leia
10. Out Of The Dark
11. Years Of Slavery
12. Forbidden Fruits (Bonus Track
13. Bumblebee (Bonus Track)

MENTALIST – Lineup

Kai Stringer – Guitars
Peter Moog – Guitars
Rob Lundgren – Vocals
Florian Hertel – Bass
Thomen Stach – Drums