Latest of the new wave of stoner/revival/heavy metal bands, Mirror have an impressive and diverse collective CV of work behind them. A Face on the Doom scene, bassist Tas Danazoglou (erstwhile of Electric Wizard and Great Coven) is the main driver behind this band, along with drummer Jaime Gomez Arellano (Blutvial and Septic Tank). The band is very upfront with what to expect from Mirror (Metal Blade), their debut album: “The recording boasts strong melodic ideas with classic, heavy riffs inspired by the sounds of Scorpions, UFO, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple and the like.”
The album’s opener – ‘Mirror’ – is so ridiculously Maiden that it’s almost a surprise as the vocals start that it’s not Ol’ Foghorn himself making a guest appearance. Instead, Jimmy Mavromatis turns in a performance far more reminiscent of Blind Guardian‘s Hansi Kürsch. The song doesn’t suffer from it though – it’s the best of the bunch. ‘Curse of the Gypsy’ is a grandiose affair which reminds strongly of Ghost. The foot comes off the throttle for the stargazing ‘Year of the Red Moon’, where the inevitable Hammond organ makes its appearance and settles in for the remainder of the ride and ‘Heavy King’ is a fine track in the Deep Purple vein with a strong backbone and some lovely breaks from each band member. ‘Madness and Magic’ brings the (classic rock flavoured) doom and ‘Galleon’ brings us back to Killers-era Maiden, while ‘Cloak of a Thousand Secrets’ turns up the heat again for a boisterous hybrid of Blind Guardian and UFO. ‘Orion’s Sword’ servers an extended acoustic(y) intro to the closing track – ‘Elysian’ – which pretty much shoehorns everything from the rest of the album into one song.
As I’ve said before, revival bands often struggle to find their own sense of identity, but I don’t think this is true of Mirror. They’re honest about what they’re aiming for, they’ve delivered as promised and the end result does stand on its own whilst paying authentic homage to the giants of 70s metal. What lets Mirror down is the killer/filler track list (‘Mirror’, ‘Gypsy’, ‘Heavy King’ and ‘Secrets’ being the killers), and the dry production. Now, I fully appreciate that this sound is a central part of the feel the band are going for with this album, but it detracts from almost all the tracks, robbing them of the punch and depth that a richer sound would yield.
Nevertheless, a decent debut, and if you’re into the likes of Purson, Ghost or The Sword, you’ll probably get on with Mirror.
6.5/10
PHILIP PAGE
