What in the first place intrigued me about this album was the very atmospheric booklet-design. Well, I can’t help it – I am a naturalist. The cover depicts a fragment of a forest-photograph. That is, one can see firs, ivy, maple trees and the like. There is a murky pond that reflects the whole scene. When you open up the booklet the inspired listener faces another forest scenery that is way more earthy and looks very enchanting. In the background lurks an old-fashioned clock… nice that. As for the music – MIRRORTHRONE perform majestic, symphonic and varying… hmmm, I’d call it Dark Metal actually. That is, the music is very complex. Partly the compositions are approximately 8 minutes long. As if the OPETH records were competed with here, haha. The oeuvre seems very homogenous, and that is why no songs really stick out really, which I definitely don’t mean negatively. I think it is utterly artistic to strive for homogeneity when it comes to composing music and arranging it on an album. MIRRORTHRONE kind of remind me of acts such as LEGENDA, a bit of VED BUENS ENDE here and there, old … AND OCEANS (with regard to the synthies), Doom legends like SOLSTICE, MY DYING BRIDE. Actually all this is quite hard to describe ’cause MIRRORTHRONE are relatively unique. They incorporate delightful Doom-parts in their music beside blasting ferocity, i.e. fast beats and aggressive tunes. The person behind MIRRORTHRONE is just one individual called Vladimir who’s in charge of all the components that set up the music – vocals, guitars, bass, synthesizers and the drum-programming. Yeah, MIRRORTHRONE use a drum-computer that, I must state, partly sounds a bit ridiculous… not because the sound sucks or something. No, just because it absolutely sounds superhuman, this would even be not manageable for madmen like Robbe K., Gene Hogan, Sean Reinert… impossible. Otherwise, the guitars sound really awesome, nice tuning, appropriate sound-characteristics (very doomy indeed, at times quite technical actually à ‘Florilège Lunatique Occultement Révalateur…’ but melodious most of the time), the bass guitar is doing a truly supportive job – not less, not more. The male vocals oscillate between aggressive Black Metal-like shrieks and, most of the time, harmonious sonorous singing (partly female vocals are used, too à ‘Beyond The Mirrorthrone’). The majority of the lyrics is written in French, which I find very fitting. The synthesizers are fabulous I think… very skilful indeed. I wonder whether Vladimir enjoyed classical tutorials and training… All in all, an impressive recording, which I do appreciate as an old MY DYING BRIDE, ANATHEMA freak. I am quite impressed, too, that Read Stream release such tranquil and serene music … thumbs up!!! Contact: www.mirrorthrone.com, www.redstream.org