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Mirror of Dead Faces - Lamentation

Rating

RIYL

The Black Dahlia Murder
Through the Eyes of the Dead
Brother Von Doom

Release Date

09/23/2008

Label

Creator Destructor

Tracklist

1. The Beginning of Sorrows
2. A Cripple Within
3. The Horde of Swine
4. This is My Curse
5. Lamentation
6. Gauntlet of the Will
7. The Suffering
8. Bringer of Peace & Lord of War
9. Plague of Sheol

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Recent Ratings
jared	Stinkypickle
Rick Gebhardt

Mirror of Dead Faces is stupid band name. I’d even go so far to say that it’s among the worst I’ve seen in recent memory. So I instinctively assumed that the music was just as proportionately awful as the name and resolved to only listen to the first song, rationalizing that if it sucked, the others wouldn’t be worth my time either. Well, the screams that tear through the opening moments of “The Beginning of Sorrows” are a strong indicator of the madness to come. Just as Through the Eyes of the Dead began their lauded debut, Bloodlust, with nearly a full 60 seconds of tortured cries, the shrieks of agony that begin Lamentation are a segue into the mayhem that quickly follows. It’s an effective technique that instantly grabs your attention and demands even the most cynical of listeners to hear at least a few tracks before rendering judgment. The anguish of the damned proved to be a clever move on the part of the band because it enticed me to give Lamentation a thorough audience that ended with a radically different conclusion than I initially expected to give.

With a name like Mirror of Dead Faces it’s expected they'll play a form of deathcore. On this point, the Californian quintet offers no surprises. Lamentation is an entertaining debut full of death metal influenced hardcore. Tending toward the melodic death / deathcore side of the genre earns them points in my book, as the riffs tend to settle in much easier than their atonal counterparts. This penchant for catchy riffing, combined with one of the strongest vocal performances of the year makes acclimation to these songs a painless endeavor.

I wasn’t being facetious when I said Lamentation contains one of my favorite vocal performances of the year. Frontman Ryan Thor and guitarist Jake Foust take advantage of vocal layering to great effect. The dual assault of high rasps and low growls serves two purposes. First and foremost, it sounds awesome; whoever mixed this knew what they were doing with the vocal channels. Thor sounds positively possessed when he collaborates with Foust, giving the songs an evil feel that would be impossible with only one half of the duo. Secondly, from a purely songwriting perspective, the layering effect is a significant audio cue that a transition in the song is forthcoming. The wide range of shrieks, screams, and roars that are littered throughout Lamentation are impressive in and of themselves, but it’s the ways in which they are used that makes this vocal performance so notable.

If you’ve ever listened to The Black Dahlia Murder during their Miasma era, then you already know what most of Lamentation will sound like. The Gothenburg guitar influence, machine gun drumming, and multi-pitched vocals are present and firing on all cylinders. Many might see this similarity as painfully derivative and not listen to Mirror of Dead Faces out of principle, but I view the comparison very differently. I happened to like Miasma and would not have minded if the album was longer. Lamentation could be thought of as, for lack of a better term, the “missing” part of the former. Therefore, the sonic similarity to a great album is by no means a slight. Instead, it is the logical continuation of record that ends much too quickly. I agree that outright plagiarism is deplorable among musicians. However, the methods of transposition and variation have been common among the most brilliant compositional minds of the last four centuries. One needs look no further than the album’s title track for a prime example of these writing techniques.

My only real critique is unfortunately, also a rather damning one. Mirror of Dead Faces have fallen into the same trap that most Scandinavian metal influenced groups can’t avoid: repetition, repetition, repetition. The trouble with writing in a certain style is the often unintentionally imposed limit on usable key signatures. Ideas start to become recycled, riffs become rehashed, and sooner or later this nine song album only contains enough originality to have three or four complete songs. That’s the problem with Lamentation; it doesn’t have enough ideas to fill up the full 30 minute run time. My only other qualm is the lack of clearly defined bass lines. This is a recurring complaint with the genre itself, I know. However, I will not stop pointing out how stupid it is to cut out the lowest frequencies during the mixing process.

Long story short: You’ll either enjoy Lamentation immensely, or flat out hate it. Mirror of Dead Faces are a young band with a potentially bright future ahead of them. The songwriting is tight, the riffs are catchy, and the vocals are top notch. The 2.5 score is more a reflection of the record as a whole, rather than what I thought of the songs that sounded complete. I’m looking forward to a follow up album that will address the repetition problem plaguing an otherwise exemplary debut. I have no doubt that with maturity and experience, the flaw will be polished out, and Mirror of Dead Faces will have little to lament about.

--Ian Woods