CoC : U.P. - Mindfailure : Review

U.P. - _Mindfailure_
(Amarok, 1997)
by: Brian Meloon (6.5 out of 10)

U.P. (formerly Unleashed Power) have returned with a new lineup, and an updated style. While this album shares a lot of similarities with their previous release, _Quintet of Spheres_, it also has some differences. The most prominent is that their new vocalist, unfortunately, sounds a lot like Phil Anselmo. That's too bad, because while their songs are more intricate and involved than anything Pantera has done, they now sound even more like Pantera. However, their vocalist does show a good range, switching between growls and a more melodic style as the music changes. The songs are quite long, with several over the eight-minute mark, and yet remain relatively consistent, withough many radical time or tempo changes. This makes the songs seem a little too long for their own good to me. The production is fine, and the playing is good on all counts, but the guitar solos don't really impress me, especially the tone of the "Nefarious" guitar solo. This is a solid release, but it really doesn't have much (other than the song lengths) to distance it from a lot of other stuff out there.

(article published 12/8/1997)