Mirror
Mirror
Metal Blade Records
2015
Mirror, mirror on the wall is this album any good at all? Mirror are the brain-child of bassist Tas Danazoglou (Satan’s Wrath, ex-Electric Wizard) alongside with Satan’s Wrath axeman Stamos K, and vocalist Jimmy Mavromatis (Armageddon Rev 16:16). Along with them we find drummer & producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (Ghost, Cathedral, Paradise Lost) and LA guitarist Matt Olivo (Repulsion).
This not entirely likely, but very much happening collective of musicians has come up with a 70s/80s proto-metallic little beastie that might be borrowing a couple of pages from here and there, but also seems to have enough character and ability on its own. It’s a riffy pandemonium with Angelwitch, Maiden, Rainbow influences that borrow heavily from the past and resembles a lot of things but manages to also be so retro, that you’ll either love it immediately or want to smash it to a thousand pieces. Mavromatis is a more than a capable singer that may be pushing himself a bit here over the edge, but he manages to come up with a very interesting and largely accent free but also elegiac style that gives the band a ton of character.
The eponymous, title track, “Mirror”, begins in a style that recalls in similar quantities early maiden and Angelwitch with a bit of the hyperbole of David Byron era Uriah Heep and even some oratorical influence. It manages to be both epic, doomy and have a sense of elegy at the same time.
“Curse of the Gypsy” probably introduces a nice dose of Mercyful Fate inspired riffing into the game and with its nice chorus it manages to really feel quite inspired.
“Year of the Red Moon” has an intro that a bastard son of Metallica’s “Anesthesia/Pulling Teeth” and Diamond Head’s “Lost at Sea”. It takes it dear sweet time to “begin”, but once it does it really takes another route, completely, somewhere between Rainbow and Sorcerer/Candlemass, in a very interesting twist. Really epic.
“Heavy King” begins with a small riff and rhythm idea of disputable origin (possibly Scorpions), but as soon as its first proper riffs land and the melody lines set in it, just leaves you quite breathless with how the band manages to come up with a really epic and original 70s sounding but quite 80s epic doom hybrid. You gotta listen to it, to really appreciate it...
“Madness and Magik” just sets its lyrics all over a semblance of the riffology of Sabbath’s “Country Girl” but manages to redeem itself with its nice chorus and latter epic/occult conclusion.
“Galleon” begins with a Maidenesque gallop by gravitates towards an Angelwitch like heavy conclusion with the atmosphere getting darker and thicker as the track progresses.
“Cloak of a Thousand Secrets” sounds Rainbowesque, but the vocal performance here is a lot more stentorian and theatrical in a David Bower (Hell) sort of way… but less vitriolic and quite more melodic. The music too, seems to be more in tune with some of the wickedest Blitzkrieg/Satan riffs, but slower and gloomier.
“Orion’s Sword” is a melodic and idyllic interlude that acts as an intro to “Elysian”, the final song on Mirror’s debut that’s anything by placid, mixing a maidenesque gallop with the lighter more epic moments of Sabbath of the 80s when it eventually slows down.
While Mirror is heavily influenced and on occasion borrow from the “gods” of yesteryear, they are doing it both in subtle enough ways (in most cases) and with a desire to pay tribute, than to rip off. I believe they’re one of the more interesting and genuine things I’ve heard in recent times in the epic/doom/heavy (with a pinch of occult thrown in for good measure) sort of genre. Their appeal should be almost universal to old-schoolers and even some younger whippersnappers that like all that beard/stoner shit, might take a note or two of how it used to be back in the day and how you could still do it, if you feel like it.
This not entirely likely, but very much happening collective of musicians has come up with a 70s/80s proto-metallic little beastie that might be borrowing a couple of pages from here and there, but also seems to have enough character and ability on its own. It’s a riffy pandemonium with Angelwitch, Maiden, Rainbow influences that borrow heavily from the past and resembles a lot of things but manages to also be so retro, that you’ll either love it immediately or want to smash it to a thousand pieces. Mavromatis is a more than a capable singer that may be pushing himself a bit here over the edge, but he manages to come up with a very interesting and largely accent free but also elegiac style that gives the band a ton of character.
The eponymous, title track, “Mirror”, begins in a style that recalls in similar quantities early maiden and Angelwitch with a bit of the hyperbole of David Byron era Uriah Heep and even some oratorical influence. It manages to be both epic, doomy and have a sense of elegy at the same time.
“Curse of the Gypsy” probably introduces a nice dose of Mercyful Fate inspired riffing into the game and with its nice chorus it manages to really feel quite inspired.
“Year of the Red Moon” has an intro that a bastard son of Metallica’s “Anesthesia/Pulling Teeth” and Diamond Head’s “Lost at Sea”. It takes it dear sweet time to “begin”, but once it does it really takes another route, completely, somewhere between Rainbow and Sorcerer/Candlemass, in a very interesting twist. Really epic.
“Heavy King” begins with a small riff and rhythm idea of disputable origin (possibly Scorpions), but as soon as its first proper riffs land and the melody lines set in it, just leaves you quite breathless with how the band manages to come up with a really epic and original 70s sounding but quite 80s epic doom hybrid. You gotta listen to it, to really appreciate it...
“Madness and Magik” just sets its lyrics all over a semblance of the riffology of Sabbath’s “Country Girl” but manages to redeem itself with its nice chorus and latter epic/occult conclusion.
“Galleon” begins with a Maidenesque gallop by gravitates towards an Angelwitch like heavy conclusion with the atmosphere getting darker and thicker as the track progresses.
“Cloak of a Thousand Secrets” sounds Rainbowesque, but the vocal performance here is a lot more stentorian and theatrical in a David Bower (Hell) sort of way… but less vitriolic and quite more melodic. The music too, seems to be more in tune with some of the wickedest Blitzkrieg/Satan riffs, but slower and gloomier.
“Orion’s Sword” is a melodic and idyllic interlude that acts as an intro to “Elysian”, the final song on Mirror’s debut that’s anything by placid, mixing a maidenesque gallop with the lighter more epic moments of Sabbath of the 80s when it eventually slows down.
While Mirror is heavily influenced and on occasion borrow from the “gods” of yesteryear, they are doing it both in subtle enough ways (in most cases) and with a desire to pay tribute, than to rip off. I believe they’re one of the more interesting and genuine things I’ve heard in recent times in the epic/doom/heavy (with a pinch of occult thrown in for good measure) sort of genre. Their appeal should be almost universal to old-schoolers and even some younger whippersnappers that like all that beard/stoner shit, might take a note or two of how it used to be back in the day and how you could still do it, if you feel like it.