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| MYSTIC-FORCE - Man vs. Machine CD | |
HRR 980CD, slipcase | |
| William Wren (R.I.P. 2020) - vocals Rich Davis - guitar Keith Menser (R.I.P. 2022) - bass/keyboards Chris Lembach - drums | |
| 01 Idiosyncrasy 02 Identical Strangers 03 Man vs. Machine 04 Circuitboard Ministry 05 Mechanical 06 Man Made Master 07 One And Only 08 Terminal 09 Ladder Or The Fall 10 Suffering Minds 11 Master The Moments 12 Thinking Out Loud 13 Transitions 14 Hang On 15 No Words | |
AVAILABLE | |
Audio restoration and mastering by by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in September 2024.
Mystic Force were a progressive power metal band from Baltimore in Maryland. After recording a few demo tapes they went on to sign with German label Rising Sun Productions releasing two full-length albums: »The Eternal Quest« (1993) and »A Step Beyond« (1995). This was followed by »Man Vs. Machine« on the band’s own Siegen Records in 2001. After the demise of Mystic Force, drummer Chris Lembach and guitarist Rich Davis formed the band Shift and recorded two albums with them. After that Rich started his own solo project (playing all the instruments himself and even singing), before he once again got a band together and released the »Inside The Upside Down« CD (2024).
Mystic Force were originally formed in 1984 by guitarists Rich Davis and Marc Rouchard together with bass player Keith Menser. The band went through several line-up changes early on before finding Chris Lembach (drums) and Bobby Hicks (vocals).
In 1987, the band issued their first (self-titled) demo tape, which was followed by another tape release, »Blind Vision«, a year later. Next were two vinyl releases (both in 1990), the first, »Take Command«, realized by C.M.F.T. Records in England, and the second, the “Shipwrecked With The Wicked”/”Eternal Quest” 12” single, issued on the band’s own Pro-duction label.
With the help of C.M.F.T. Records over in the UK and Oliver Jung’s “Demolition” distribution network here in Germany, Mystic Force had been getting more and more popular in European underground metal circles, and it was just a question of time for label offers to start coming in. In the end a deal with German label Rising Sun Records was struck and the band’s full-length debut album »The Eternal Quest« appeared in the shops in 1993.
Two years later, in 1995, the follow-up »A Step Beyond« hit the market. “It was hands down my personal favorite recording experience,” says Rich Davis about the album. “We were put into Kajem Recording studio. »Operation Mindcrime« and I think Crimson Glory’s »Transcendence« as well as some Metal Church albums (can’t remember which) were done there. So much history. ”
“I would say »The Eternal Quest« had more fire and tempo and drive to it,” compares Rich the first and the second Mystic Force albums, “»A Step Beyond« was or ended up being very dark and mid-paced. Our songwriting was always changing and growing for sure. As for us getting more progressive on »A Step Beyond«, I guess that could be true. Not by intention though, just the natural growth of the band.”
It took six long years for the band’s follow-up album »Man Vs. Machine« to appear in 2001. So what had happened? “The band was going through internal problems with Bobby during the writing process of »A Step Beyond«,” says Rich Davis today. “Then issues during the recording session and all coming to a head when he decided to not show up for our CD release show. That left us in the uncomfortable situation and forced us to part ways. So here we are with a brand new album and no singer. The time span you are talking about was the time it took us to fire Bobby and then find a new singer and write another album. So if you think about it, It really wasn’t any time off.”
»Man Vs. Machine« was released via the band’s own Siegen Records and not on Rising Sun, and this is why: “I think after Rising Sun put all of this money into the recording for »A Step Beyond« and finding out that we had to fire Bobby, so we no longer had a singer. I guess that was too much for them to tolerate.”
Bobby Hicks’ replacement was a certain William Wren, who used to sing for progressive power metal band Prodigy (and then Oracle). “I think Bobby and William had very different vocal styles,” says Rich Davis about the band’s then new singer. “Bobby was more of a natural vocalist, very strong and easy for him. William was more experimental then Bobby. He loved harmonies and trying different voices. To me »Man Vs. Machine« was our best album. In my view the album was closer to »The Eternal Quest« then to »A Step Beyond«. Both seemed to be more edgy and raw metal. In the end, we always just did what we did. I’m sure with any music writing you are always feeling inspiration from everything around. As the music that we were hearing at the time may have changed, so did we evolve as writers. The basic theme of »Man Vs. Machine« was probably about technology and the push and pull of how we deal with change.”
“All this momentum and a brand new band but no singer,” says Rich Davis about Bobby Hicks being fired from the band after »A Step Beyond«. “Keith instantly got to work, behind the scenes getting the word out to any any every singer that he could. I’ll never forget the night Keith asked us if we all could meet at the local pizza joint and listen to a possible choice. We all gathered around the tape machine and he hit play. This guy wants to join us?, I asked. It just blew us away. It was the Oracle album »As Darkness Reigns«. Well, after hearing that, we knew that was our guy, and William Wren joined the band.”
The guitarist continues with the story: “When the 2000s started, the band was starting to fall into a bit of a slump. I know that personally I was getting sick of things. Chris and I were still writing and moving forward, actually we never stopped, but Keith and Bill were just not there. That’s what let me to leave the band. I couldn’t stand being stagnate. So when I left, Chris decided to follow me and we parted ways with Mystic Force together. The album that Chris and I wrote as being the follow-up to »Man Vs. Machine« we took and that ended up being the first album for our new band Shift. That album was called »Creating A Monster«. If we had stayed with Mystic Force, then that would have been our fourth full-length album.”
Rich goes into even more detail regarding the end of Mystic Force: “Unfortunately, during this time Keith was going through health issues and was falling farther behind in the process. Chris and I kept on going. Like a well-oiled machine pumping out song after song. The writing connection between us was so strong, we knew we just had to keep going. During the months of writing, now William was becoming distant and uninvolved. We did have him come up one time to work on pre-production for the new album. I think we recorded four or five songs. We all loved how they were turning out, not realizing that what we just recorded would be the last recording with both Keith and William. At this point I knew the momentum was at a total standstill, and I wasn’t putting up with that. So I told Keith: ‘I’m done. You can have Mystic Force but I just can’t do this anymore.’
So I left. When I told Chris I was leaving, he said: ‘Well, I’m staying with you.’ Our music writing combination was so strong, we just had to stay together. Chris and I ended up recording two albums in Shift: »Creating A Monster« and »Lead, Judge And Jury«. During this time Chris had joined a very popular cover band in Baltimore called Burn. In this cover band Chris was playing all the time to packed shows. The were just nonstop. It got to the point that Chris just got so burnt out with the hole music scene. And actually found himself going back to his first love before playing the drums, and that was racing BMX bikes. Not only has he gone back to it but he is absolutely killing it right now. Ranked #1 in the Tri-State area and actually racing in national races. I’m so proud of him and he is so happy now. As for me, I never stopped recording and staying relevant in the music scene. Right after the last album with Shift, I got right on my solo project. Recording all instruments and even singing. I did it all. I Was a recording machine pumping out single after single and video after video. I think I ended up putting out about 30 singles and 15 videos. I was pumping out a song with a full high-budget video about every four months. It was exhausting. Then around 2022 I knew it was time for me to put another full band together. I had the itch to start playing live again. That’s when I gathered the best musicians I could find and started recording. We just released a full-length CD called »Inside The Upside Down« and we also have a crazy video for our single ‘Black Widow’.”
Unfortunately, three of the former Mystic Force members are not with us any more: Bobby Hicks passed away in 2013, followed by William Wren in 2020 and Keith Menser in September of 2022 – just leaving Chris Lembach and Rich Davis.
MATTHIAS MADER