Lion Music, 19th February 2010

With six full-length releases under their belt and this, their seventh, less than a month away, Mastermind is one of the more tenured progressive metal ensembles out there. Throughout their 20-year career, Bill and Rich Berends have brought to life works of considerable complexity. Insomnia sees the Berends Brothers--along with renowned keyboard wizard Jens Johansson--shifting gears somewhat, turning down the prog a couple of notches to allow newly-recruited songstress Tracy McShane to take the spotlight.

Whether singing softly or adding a bit of bite to her delivery, McShane seems to have energy to spare. Infused with plenty of personality and maturity, and with few similarities to any of her contemporaries, her voice quickly proves itself deserving of the attention. I'd say it is the album's standout element. That's not to say the guys don't turn in a good performance, because they do, but it is definitely a more melodically inclined one than is often the case with musicians in the progressive field. The die-hard proggers who live and breathe for odd time signatures and dueling instruments needn't fret entirely, however: If you can't sit through an album unless it throws at least one exercise in instrumental know-how at ya, the guys in Mastermind's got you covered with the jazz-fusionesque "Night Flier", one of the more exciting compositions on Insomnia.

"Exciting" might not be indicative of your first listen of the album, however. It's an accessible record, to be sure, but the nuances and merit of some of its content was not immediately apparent to me. It's a grower. Songs that initially struck me as confusingly meandering suddenly opened up, and even "Piggy World"--a sort of a heavy metal diss track (addressed to a Mr./Ms.You-Know-Who-You-Are) that is juvenile to the point of rendering itself a guilty pleasure--turned out to be pretty gosh darn catchy once I let my guard down. Once it revealed its potential, I found Insomnia to be a consistently entertaining album--check it out!

For more information: http://mastermindband.com/main.html