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“The second album is the most difficult in an artist's career” sang Caparezza, and at least this time it's an apt comparison.
"Mirrors" is indeed the second album from the American band following the explosive debut of "Of Malice and The Magnum Heart" and is absolutely the record that has caused the most issues for the band: beyond the already significant responsibility of delivering an album that can stand up to the exceptional debut, the American combo finds itself facing a wild herd of "die-hard fans" who don't appreciate the choice of new singer (out Jesse Zarkas and in the little-known Karl Schubach) and a new producer not living up to his illustrious predecessor (revealed to be a half-failure by the band's own admission), definitely a tough situation even for a group like the Misery Signals. And it's perhaps the absence of Devin Townsend behind the console that causes the most evident damage: the new release sounds quite disjointed, the guitars lose in power and the drums in sharpness, and while the vocals and bass remain on good standards, the overall quality of the mix is decidedly poor, especially when compared to the superb work done on "Of Malice...", an album with a decidedly lower budget.
So is it a misstep?
Absolutely not: "Mirrors", although not boasting the massive sounds we're used to from the frontman of Strapping Young Lad (Darkest Hour, Bleeding Through, Lamb Of God...) undoubtedly represents the band's most significant album, their definitive step towards maturity. Songs such as "Something was always missing but it was never you", "Migrate", "Sword Of Eyes", "An Offering To The Insatiable Sons Of God (Butcher)" perfectly bridge the recent past ("Worlds and Dreams") with the present ("Homecoming", "Reset", "Coma"), adding new elements and ideas to a sound that is already unconventional, while the furious tracks "Face Yourself", "Post Collapse", the epic "Mirrors" and "Reverence Lost" show a definite step forward in terms of arrangements and choruses.
But it is with melody that the album reaches its peak: the trio "Anchor", "One Day I'll Stay Home" and the unparalleled "The Failsafe" are without exaggeration the best songs the band has composed so far, where the progressive elements, hardcore attitude, and "metallic" influences come to a perfect cohesion.
Melody, power, inspiration: "Mirrors" is all this and much more, it's a diverse album but not boring, powerful but not cacophonous, well-played but not "kitsch", it exudes passion and spontaneity from the beautiful lyrics that will stick in your head from the first listen. "This is what mend the broken, the promise of something greater", "and I'm chained to everything I tried to leave behind", "One day I'll stay home...", "How much is too much", memorable moments are numerous, in a triumph of emotions that flow freely.
"THERE IS A CHOICE TO MAKE!", that's how the album ends in the cathartic scream of "Mirrors", thus I conclude as well:
make your choice, which is also mine, go and make this album yours.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 The Failsafe (05:18)
Breaking dawn will bring revenge
We should know by now we're so sick.
It was building up and no one was watching
We're running out of darkened corners to sweep the waste into
In our distracted focus no one had a chance
When we lined up at the edge, we were open wide
Like fools waiting for a sign
It was a free fall
An act of desperation, our backs against the wall
It was a free fall
It was an act of desperation
Down we go
As we all went blind, like an answer to the call of an outstretched hand
The hell we beckoned crept inside
The vultures circling overhead, starving to pick the skeletons we leave
On the eve of the end as the world around us burns [the ashes shall rain]
Somehow we still beg, give us a sign
Dawn brings revenge
Patience won't mend the broken
Promise of something greater
The cables wrapped around our throat, tonight pitch red cast over
Senses adrift, I lay me down
Plague wraps it's arms around me
Down we go
It was a free fall
An act of desperation, our backs against the wall
It was a free fall
It was an act of desperation
Down we go
As we lined up at the edge, we were open wide
Like fools waiting for a sign
04 Migrate (02:21)
The worst is over
We went the fast way out
You can see the marks left on my clothes
From where she came undone
You want me to hurt like you, to shadow the pain
Away with my sympathy
And the comforts I abused
Away with dishonesty
And my manufactured truth
I don't care, I just don't
And winter came to hide the sun behind the gray
And erase her
What's done is done
My warmth has gone
Carried by the birds of fall
I don't care, I just don't
It doesn't feel like anything
And winter came to hide the sun behind the gray
And devastate her
What's done is done is done
11 Mirrors (07:41)
Lose control
You find yourself pulling our eyes from the room
Attention, your addiction
It's destroying everything, this steadfast fixation
Still my satisfaction is found in your submissive hands
Beautiful, the life you drove through me
Through this wall of glass
Piercing rays fueled the radiance in your eyes
Pulling me closer, defying all reason
Until a night so disconnecting stole it away
And now these screams do nothing but fasten you to this prison I designed
Lose control, find yourself, lose control
To be destroyed is a choice you'll have to make
Violent, the life you drove through me
Through this wall of glass
Piercing rays fueled the radiance in your eyes
Pulling me closer, defying all reason
Let it out, Shed this skin, Break away
Denial is catching up, illusion is caving in
Exactly what did you expect?
The harm is in hiding
Knowing only your simplicity, knowing nothing
Upon the great divide
You see it your own way
No wisdom across the shallow glass
A captive god
You look over a deadened face
Features sink like a skull
So familiar yet so far away
I see now
I see now there is a choice to make
We could be any one, I see now
We turn over, we redefined this reflection
This is a need that we learn like a new limb
There is a choice to make
We will lie in our graves
A hall of mirrors opens into a room full of me
I could be anyone, we could be anyone
There is a choice to make, I see now
We turn over, we redefine this reflection
There is a choice to make
We will lie in our graves
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