mirror black assassin's reflection

Released: 08 September 2010

Broadly speaking, ideas are a good thing if you want to be a metal band. They don’t have to be wholly original, but there has to be something of note to grab the punters.

Midlands-based Mirror Black don’t just have ideas that grab you, they have ideas that repeatedly punch you in the face and leave you face down on the floor of the mosh pit. It’s admirable and ambitious, but it’s also their downfall.

Opening track This I Swear sets the tone, being a roller coaster ride of riffs and rhythms that musically reference just about every big name in modern metal, from the Metallica meets Trivium attack of the verses to the Lamb of God / Pantera-inspired sludge standoff of the middle eight.

Contract is what Down would sound like if their vocal duties were shared by King Diamond and Rob Halford (no, seriously...) while Righteous Vengeance is the soundtrack to a street brawl between Megadeth and Iced Earth. All very feral and ferocious for sure, but Mirror Black never quite measures up to the sum of their parts.

If that all sounds overwhelmingly negative it’s really not meant to, as Mirror Black do have something to offer the metal public. Their confrontational delivery and clear passion for what they inspiration from your heroes, you don’t necessarily have to try to be all of them.

by Marcus Jervis