A work of rare passion, drama and intrigue released just over a week ago via Metal Blade Records, the self-titled debut from occult heavy metal alchemists, MIRROR, has been reaping the critical accolades of media critics both stateside and abroad.

To hear the album in its entirety (and to purchase the various formats), please visit: metalblade.com/mirror.

The musical brainchild of bassist Tas Danazoglou (Satan’s Wrath, ex-Electric Wizard), MIRROR‘s collection of cult crypt-kickers and mighty conjurings bears all the hallmarks of an instant classic. A chance meeting with respected producer (of Ghost, Cathedral, Paradise Lost) and accomplished drummer Jaime Gomez Arellano led to the pair hitting on a shared vision of a classically aligned outfit that drew inspiration from the epic amplified landscapes of lore and legend whilst avoiding the lure of mere tribute, rather reinventing the sound and fury they loved anew. They were soon joined by Satan’s Wrath axeman Stamos K, and their fate further sealed by the arrival of the mightily operatic tenor of vocalist Jimmy Mavromatis, before the ouroborus was completed with Los Angeles-based guitarist Matt Olivo (Repulsion).

Together as MIRROR they deliver a thunderously resonant salvo of metal magnificence. Grandiose in approach, richly melodic in delivery and fiercely passionate in character, Mirror is a veritable feast for the lover of traditional hard rock and heavy metal. Whilst denim-and-leather-clad pastiche abounds in contemporary metal circles, Mirror stands proud and impervious to fashion, artifice or foolhardy overstatement – merely a true-as-steel testimony to power and ardor that transcends generations.

From the Hammond-abetted bruiser “Heavy King” to the stomping groove and harmony-driven thrust of “Madness And Magik“, and from the galloping madness of “Galleon” to the colossal closer “Elysian“, these torrents of tumultuous riffing and monstrous bravura volley forth in gloriously devil-may-care style.