The individual songs themselves are beautiful pieces of music. Monkey Mind experiment with dynamics and alternative rock but also keep their metal identity alive and well. The songs move seamlessly between quiet parts and louder sections with guitar distortion, drums and louder vocals. Although each track contains verses and choruses, the distinction between these lies more in the loudness and intensity of the music than in what’s being played.
Every song is a highlight of its own, but if I was forced to point out the most outstanding moments of the album I would select “Hibernation Mode”, which sounds fantastic with an awesome lead guitar on the middle and “Upheaval”, another amazing track, very sensitive and deep. “Nightmare” also stands out for being the most mysterious track of the album. This is the last song of the album, with a great intro, a beautiful basic melody and some haunting vocals.
The production is raw but fine and the metallic content of the album is fairly thin, this is more into the camp of dark, alternative rock but also not too far from the riffing of Metallica and Paradise Lost. Personally, whether this is a metal album or not does not matter the slightest to me – as long as the music is as good as this.
All in all, I consider “Breakdown” as the ideal debut album for Monkey Mind. It contains many memorable songs; it has a strong concept that is perfectly converted into music; and it has a great sound overall. I highly recommend the album to fans of any rock and metal genre. This is a really decent addition.
2. Hibernation Mode
3. Immunity (I'll never go under)
4. Upheaval
5. In the name of god
6. Save me from me
7. Breathe
8. Nightmare
https://www.reverbnation.com/monkeymind
https://soundcloud.com/monkeymindcy
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaURRmo8hwEvKz_MIGhemnA
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4l8liy2cJyRbhI3To7CfAQ
