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 Swedish Prog Metallers Mind's Eye are set to unveil their 6th album on September 14th, the concept album 'A Gentleman's Hurricane', which has been compared to Queensryche's Opeation:Mindcrime, and sees the band taking a heavier turn.
The album, which is set to be released as a triple pack with a DVD and comic book, and to find out more we caught up with main song writter, drummer, and executive producer of the album Daniel Flores to find out more about the new project, and how it came together.
Komodo Rock: For those who are new to Mind's Eye, could you give us a little background on the band?
Daniel Flores: Hi, well we are three musicians from Sweden that actually make a living on playing on other peoples albums and in live situations. Been around the early 90Â’s and have done 6 albums including this new one. We used to sound like 4 guys playing rock and nowadays we sound like 400 guys doing film score music HAHAHAHA
How did the bands name come about?
Johan came up with it. He is crazy and has a lot of weird ideasÂ… He really should stop smoking those strange looking cigarettes HAHAHAHAÂ For us the band name stands for inner vision, discipline.
Your new album, 'A Gentlemen's Hurricane' is set to be released on September 14th. Can you tell us a little about the concept behind the album?
I’m going to give you the short version. It’s about a guy and his thoughts on life and death, Heaven and hell and finally love and isolation. He is an assassin with a multi-layered heart. The rest I will let the fans figure out.
What inspired the albums storyline?
Unsolved assassinations and corrupt governments. Around that time I also had allot on my mind, like questions about the meaning of life and so on. What most inspired me was the fact that we could actually make this idea I had since I was a teenager come alive. This is my dream come true.
 Can you give us a little background on what you feel are the albums most important tracks.
All of them are important on this album. To describe only a couple of songs would be like taking 5 minutes out of a 2 hour film to try to describe the whole movie. All I can say is that the lyrics are very important on this one.
What was the inspiration behind the albums art work, and how does it reflect the albums story?
Sure. It reflects how the assassin feels the world moves around him. Everything is just chaos and everything dies when he touches it. HeÂ’s got issues no normal human being can cope with.
'A Gentleman's Hurricane' is being released as a triple pack; album, DVD and comic book. What made you decide to put the package together like this?
First of all. I wanted to do something that no one had done before.
IÂ’m really interested in how music and picture can affect the human mind. I wanted to create a certain kind of impact and that couldnÂ’t have been done with just sound. I wanted to give all senses a real treat but the manager of LION MUSIC thought that to throw in a hamburger was a tad too much I guess HAHAHAHA
Can you tell us a little about the comic book. Does it follow the concept of the album from start to finish?
Well, itÂ’s very important to follow the pictures in the comic as some of them are clues to whatÂ’s going on in the story line. I did this so all would be connected, you canÂ’t have one without the other.
Mattias Noren drew the comic book. What made you choose him to visualise the project in the comic book?
His style and love for the band. He is an awesome artist and had the right amount of talent to make this come alive. Hi is also a gentleman so he fitted right in.
Did you give Noren specific guidelines, or was he given free reign to interpret the album himself?
We worked on it from my lyrics and he threw in some ideas. I actually changed the lyrics because Mattias had a better angle which made more sense.
This thing was the outcome made from a force of a bunch of people hand picked by me.
What was the writing process like for the album?
Awful! I never had so much stress in my whole life!!! I actually woke up at nightÂ’s running back and forth between my computer and bedÂ… My wife is such a hero for going trough this all with me. It almost killed my marriage but luckily we all survive. Actually we could have called this album 2 divorces and one funeral because some of the people involved actually went trough these things.
How does writing a concept album differ from writing a standard album?
Well for starters you need to make an awful lot of research to make an album such as we did itÂ’s not been done over a cop of tea really. For a standard album you have no boundaries or story lines to keep in the back of your mind.
'A Gentleman's Hurricane' has been said to have the best storytelling on a concept album since Queensryche's Operation:Mindcrime. How does such a comparison make you feel?
Torn in two. One half saying: THANK YOU THANK YOU! And the other half saying: SHUT UP! I never said these things and probably never will. It’s really all up to the listener. But I will admit that to me that’s a huge compliment.
 Not unlike Queensryche, you have a guest duet on the album. How did Crucified Barbara's Mia Coldheart become involved, and end up duetting on 'The Hour of Need'?
She and I have been friends since the 70Â’s!! HAHAHA
Just kidding. Mia and I go way back so she was a natural choice as she has a powerful voice and we wanted a powerful voice. To me Mia is easily in the top three female singers in Sweden.
Earlier in the year you released a video for 'Feed My Revolver'. Can you tell us a little more about the video?
ItÂ’s part of the story. We needed a song with a real well known assassination. The JFK assassination is the most debated in history so why not use that one. We wanted to give the younger guys a an introduction to mindÂ’s Eye and since most kids listen to music trough their eyes (not with their ears) this was a perfect chance IMO.
Are there plans for more videos to accompany the album, or perhaps some already made to appear on the DVD?
Another video might pop up. We are speaking about it actually. If they appear on DVD it will be on the next generation of printing.
What else is on the DVD, and what was the idea behind the DVD when you started to work on it?
Â
People have always asked us how we went about to record in the studio and since we had Lasse Niemale (Therion, talisman) available to us we could actually make it happen.
What else is on the DVD? LotÂ’s of clips from the recording of drums, bass keyboards, vocals, mastering and with the special musical guests, The video in high resolution and the making of it (which is kind of funny) a great menu and information about our former albums.Â
Can we expect to see Mind's Eye hitting the road in support of 'A Gentleman's Hurricane', and if so, are there any plans to play the album in it's entirety?
If we do play live (which is more likely next year) We will play the whole new album from start to finish with a film screen showing the magazine pictures in the background.
How do you feel the internet has changed the musical landscape over the last few years? Has it helped or hindered you as a band?
It opened the gates for small band like us and now we actually have a chance to compete with the bigger acts. Everyone has the same chance of creating a great alum today because of the fact that Mp3Â’s has taken down the corrupt labels and radio managers.
Can you give us any important links for the band, and where people can buy the album and band related merchandise?
We are launching a new website the 14th of September. There you will find links to all kinds of things. The link is www.roundrec.com but it will eventually change to www.danielflores.com If you guys have the time and never have heard us please visit our my space site www.myspace.com/eyeofthemind Â
A big thank you to Daniel for taking the time to talk to us. 'A Genteleman's Hurricane' hits the shelves on September 14th through Lion Music, and you can listen to a couple of tracks off the album on the bands myspace site right now.
We'll bring you details of any touring plans as soon as we find out about them.Â
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