HEAVEN’S TRAIL-Lethal Mind

Escape Music

English record label Escape has been releasing quality melodic rock for well over twenty years. Specialised in mostly AOR and melodic rock owner Khalil Turk has changed his tune by signing Heaven’s Trail. This new group exists of seasoned musicians that have earned their laurels in bands like At Vance, Masterplan, Jaded Heart, Hermann Frank and Powerworld. Singer Rick Altzi and drummer Kevin Kott are current Masterplan members, bassist Michael Muller is the driving force behind Jaded Heart while Barish Kepic (guitar/keyboards) is the guy who is the main composer and producer for this band project. So in what way has Khalil Turk changed his tune? Well, ‘Lethal Mind’ is probably the loudest, roughest and hardest rocking release on the whole label ever. Of course Heaven’s Trail has the necessary melody tucked away in their material but the songs are mostly heavy metal with a lot of rough edges. Brian Anthony, a musician that has done a lot of work for the record label in recent years, has taken care of the mix and mastering and luckily he completely understood what kind of style Heaven’s Trail was bringing to the table and has mixed the album accordingly making sure that the heaviness of the music has come to full expression. ‘Lethal Mind’ just rocks your socks off with it slightly bombastic sound and a bloke like Rick Altzi who always manages to add extra class to the total picture. I just love the roughness in his voice that goes hand in and with an enormous reach. Altzi gives the music on ‘Lethal Mind’ that extra dimension that you need these days in order to get yourself on the score board. And believe me with blasting melodic heavy metal songs like ,,Simplified’’, ,,Too Late’’, the title track and ,,On The Rise’’ Heaven’s Trail scores heavily and heavenly! Maybe not on all points a prime example of originality perhaps but as for sound, performance and that all so important ’enjoy’ factor ‘Lethal Mind’ is just the right record to add to the collection!