M.I.N.E – Unexpected Truth Within

M.I.N.E - Unexpected Truth Within

Album facts

Release: May 25th, 2018
Label: Oblivion
Genre: , ,
Discogs: No entry yet

A Synth Pop jewel is coming

First of all, I would like to thank Jessica from res­ult pro­mo­tion, who has sent me the promo copy 'Unexpected Truth Within' by 'M.I.N.E' already in the mid of March. So I already had the pleas­ure to listen to the album for the last 6 weeks. A thou­sand thanks for that early access! Feel hugged.

'Unexpected Truth Within' is cer­tainly one of the scene's most anti­cip­ated Synth Pop albums. And rightly so! What us Camouflage vocal­ist Marcus Meyn, Fools Garden guitarist/composer Volker Hinkel and drummer/keyboardist and pro­du­cer Jochen Schmalbach (Madonna, Depeche Mode, A‑ha, Fanta 4, among oth­ers) music­ally provides, is simply awesome!

It's been a little bit longer, more pre­cisely in February 2017, when the trio gave us a music­al taste with their EP 'One'. That time it was already clear that some­thing big is com­ing up. And one thing I can tell you already right now: You will not be dis­ap­poin­ted by the album, which con­tains 12 great tracks!

From the beginning, a stunner

Kneel down in front of the open­er 'The One'. From the first second, the sound is in a good mood. The song is catchy and exudes a youth­ful charm and you can feel how much pas­sion is in the song. 'The One' has enorm­ous poten­tial to become an ever­green for me and maybe for you as well. From my side this track deserves the full pos­sible score.

All we've got to do is keep crawl­ing, down to the bor­der line.
Those you're going to proof your fall­ing, like the one, the one we left behind.
Lyrics from 'The One' by M.I.N.E

Significantly reduced and quiet presents 'Same But Different'. In gen­er­al, the song sounds reduced com­pared to the open­er, but is in itself a com­plex bal­lad with a lot of dynam­ics, but it is very light-footed there­fore. From the acous­tic mood I would like to com­pare it with 'Clean' or 'Condemnation' of 'Depeche Mode'.

With a por­tion of 90s equip Acid / House ele­ments paired with the clas­sic Synth Pop atti­tude, 'MeOrMy' could fill the dance floors this sum­mer. The piece pulls on one, like a mag­net a piece of met­al. The beat is driv­ing and the tempo is mov­ing in the middle up-beat level. The vocals are demand­ing and give the album a great vari­ety. A fant­ast­ic and power­ful track.

The awesomeness continues

M.I.N.E - Promo photo 2018
M.I.N.E – Promo photo 2018

Funny fact: In the first seconds of 'Undone', I was think­ing I'm listen­ing to 'Perfect' by 'Depeche Mode'. The sample is just a bit faster! The song is also an extremely dance­able com­pos­i­tion that is second to none. A good crisp beat with bril­liant elec­tron­ic samples and sound effects. This is exactly what a mod­ern Synth Pop has to sound like: Fresh, but some­how familiar.

I'm not sure if I should lose words about 'Things We've Done' at this point. Everybody should know and love this thing. The track is mel­an­chol­ic, pro­found and simply beau­ti­fully arranged. For me per­son­ally one of the best songs of the last years. In a way, the song sets me indeed in a sad mood, but I feel some­how deeply con­nec­ted with this one. A com­bin­a­tion that is rare and there­fore I would like to take this oppor­tun­ity to thank the band in particular.

The things that we do brings sor­row and pain, but we can't staunch the flood.
Lyrics from 'Things We've Done' by M.I.N.E

More son­ic­ally exper­i­ment­al and unusu­al is the song 'Lean On'. Almost Industrial-like sounds per­meate the verses rough and dark. But the gloomy clouds break when the chor­us is inser­ted, and the piece exper­i­ences a clear, melodi­ous uplift.

Again a 'Depeche Mode' reference

'Wonder' starts with a wild west­ern style atti­tude and has sim­il­ar samples like 'Personal Jesus'. I know, this is already the third ref­er­ence to 'Depeche Mode', but that does not mean any­thing bad. We know that Markus Meyn is a DM fan­boy. Maybe Volker and Jochen would like to express them­selves on that top­ic in the com­ments below?

The third single 'Dangerous' has a splen­did march­ing beat and sounds very unique. The song has a fant­ast­ic arc of sus­pense, which gradu­ally builds up beat by beat and then finds its cli­max in an intense chor­us. The song was already on EP 'One' and at that time I thought the song had the require­ments of a gor­geous single. Nice that it worked.

Super elec­tron­ic, 'White Trash' intro­duces itself to the listen­er and con­vinces lyr­ic­ally with a gloomy and pain­ful text. Soundwise, the song could be a lost tune from the 'Voices & Images' album by 'Camouflage'. In oth­er words, you can expect a great elec­tro altern­at­ive song with the spir­it of the 80s.

Another sonically twist that makes you praise

M.I.N.E - Photo from video shoot 'The One'
M.I.N.E – Photo from video shoot 'The One'

'Reach Out' has an almost bru­tal rock song vibe, but is also truly full packed with elec­tron­ics. I know that sounds strange in the first moment, but it works beau­ti­fully. For example, I know a sim­il­arly remark­able mix from the song 'Pitch Black / Heat Death' by 'Apoptygma Berzerk', which I also love. So, if you are open-minded in mix­ing rough gui­tars and drums with elec­tron­ic instru­ments then you're going to be very happy with this one.

Not anoth­er bor­ing piano bal­lad that is called 'A World Without A Smile' was my ini­tial thoughts while listen­ing to it's the first time. I do not know why, but some­how the song cast a spell on me. Maybe it's the soul­ful lyr­ics that does not leave me cold or emo­tion­less or the mel­an­chol­ic mood that builds up the song. Anyway, the say­ing: "Never judge a book by it's cov­er" hits again.

The not quite unexpected truth

The album 'Unexpected Truth Within' by 'M.I.N.E' is a stun­ning record that could become the best album in 2018. Synth Pop awaits you at its best with a slight touch of Electrorock ele­ments. For fans of 'Camouflage' and 'Depeche Mode' any­way a must have.

But before I fin­ish this review, there is only one thing left to say: "Thank you Markus, Volker and Jochen for this mas­ter­piece. I love you guys.".

By the way, this album also made it into our art­icle ‘The best Synth Pop and genre-related albums 2018‘. Read now.

Track By Track Rating

M.I.N.E - Unexpected Truth Within
M.I.N.E – Unexpected Truth Within
The One
Same But Different
MeOrMy
Undone
Things We've Done
Lean On
Wonder
Dangerous
White Trash
Reach Out
A World Without A Smile
Leave And Let Go
Recommend
The One
Things We've Done
Weak
(Nothing to report here)
4.2
Brilliant

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The One
Same But Different
MeOrMy
Undone
Things We've Done
Lean On
Wonder
Dangerous
White Trash
Reach Out
A World Without A Smile
Leave And Let Go
Final Score