Wicked minds- Double dose

Another post of a band that is very influenced by our best Band: Uriah Heep.

This time, not only guitar, bass and keyboards are very "Heepy", but the lead vocalist too, in some range of his voice, is similar to David Byron.

Two others connections with our best band:

1- The cover of Gipsy in the first album that i post: for me this is the best version of this song after the original that i've never heared (listen to it and comment, please)-(Colin, this is one other shot for your UH connections vol. 3);

2- In the second album posted (the fourth in their discography) the group writes some notes who describe all the songs of the album (Do you remember the first five UH's albums, all with notes by Ken Hensley?). I report here how they begin the song's presentation:

"Witchflower is our fourth studio record. We think that the song writing, perfomance and sound make this one our best work since the beginning even thought, quoting Ken Hensley cover notes from "The magician's Birthday", we thought the same about previous records and we'll probably think the same about the new ones to come (...)."

I think that this group is really the reincarnation of UH's classic line-up !!

Definitively, as my friend Colin said about Moonstone Project (Another italian band), Classic rock is still alive!!!

Wicked Minds- 2004- From the purple sky

Line-up:

Lucio Calegari- Guitar, backing vocals

Paolo "Apollo" Negri- Keyboards

Enrico Garilli- Bass

J.C. Cinel- Lead vocals

Andrea Cancarotti- Drums

Tracklist:

01- From the purple skies

02- The elephant stone

03- Drifting

04- Across the sunrise

05- Forever my queen (Pentagram cover)

06- Rising above

07- Queen of violet

08- Space child

09- Gipsy (Uriah Heep cover)

10- Return to Uranus

PS: The real masterpiece here is song number ten, a long electric ride of 18 minutes, with so much change of times and very beautiful vocal harmonies.

Link

Link -repost- to song 10 (Corrupted)

Wicked Minds- 2006- Witchflower

Line-up:

Paolo "Apollo" Negri- Keyboards
Enrico Garilli- Bass
J.C. Cinel- Lead vocals, guitar
Andrea Cancarotti- Drums

Guest musicians:

Gianni Azzali- Flute, Saxophone
Tony "Face" Bacciocchi- Congas

Tracklist:

01- Trough my love
02- Witchflower
03- A child and a mirror
04- Here comes the king
05- Before the morning light
06- Burning tree
07- Shadows train
08- Black capricorn fire
09- The court of the satir
10- Sad woman
11- Scorpio odissey
12- Soldiern of fortune (Deep Purple cover)

Link


If you like classic Uriah Heep (73-76), then you'll love Wicked Minds. I mean that they really, really sound like Heep, from the Wah wah drenched guitar to the Hensley like hammond and analog synth. The band does thrown in some mellotron and flute to give some additional flavor. The drumming is even better than in Heep, offering greater variety and technical prowess. I should also mention that the production on those albums is great. Everything is clear when it's supposed to be and a powerful wall of sound when it needs to be. They can definitively play with power in that funky Heep style. But they do have too a lighter side, as reflected in the acoustic tracks.

PS: a very big thank you for this post to blogger "Error 404" of "Orexisofdeath.blogspot.com", a blog full of lost gems of the past (and of today, as this post) that i recommend to all the readers of this blog.

Cheers to all