Everybody caught up? Good.

It's still somewhat the case that the songs are a mix of what you might call old and new Tantric. Lead single, album opener, and title track "Mind Control" is straightforward rock, with a heavy main riff, bass and drum-driven verse, catchy harmonies for the chorus leadin, and a half-time chorus with a reasonably good hook. Really I'm not sure it's the one I would have chosen for a lead single, because there are other songs on the CD that I was singing along by the second or third chorus whereas this one still hasn't really grabbed me.

"Fall to the Ground" is a good blend of sounding right in the context of their newer material while having a verse riff that would have been right at home alongside songs on the debut. "Coming Undone" starts with a piano line leading into a System of a Down kind of sound before Hugo's vocals kick in. The vocals for the verse are still that old-school Tantric sound, but the chorus is weird where they kick into a shouted sound with macho posturing "come on and get some!" Still, once I got over the shock and moderately hokey posturing, it's really gotten lodged into my head. The energetic solo in the bridge doesn't hurt either.

"Desert Me" starts off making me want to launch into "Inside Your Head" from the debut and is another incredibly catchy song. "The Past Is Dead" is kind of Tantric does Black Crowes, with the signature guitar part very reminiscent of "She Talks to Angels." It's sure to draw out the lighters at concerts, and will probably be dedicated to many many boyfriends and girlfriends after nasty fights, but it's not my favorite.

"Kick Back" starts with a fairly generic intro but has a great sound in the verse and is another song with the older single note guitar lines. It's also another of the songs with the shouted vocals in the chorus. I'm actually not sure whether it's Hugo or somebody else--as an aside, thanks so much to the PR guy for springing for the CD-R with an insert you ran off on your $40 Dell printer. Anyway, this leads into "Intermezzo," which is effectively a 90 second pause while somebody shows off guitar tapping. The last 5 songs on the CD, "Run Out," "Walk Away," "What Are You Waiting For," "Let's Start," and "Guiding Me," all pretty much fit with the other songs. "What Are You Waiting For" almost starts off sounding like "The Joker." "Guiding Me" also has a System of a Down kind of sound, similar to "Aerials." That aside, it's another ballad with a guitar sound that would have fit perfectly in the band's previous incarnation.