(Heavy Metal) Dark Mirror - Visions of Pain (2007) - 2009, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

During the last decades we have been overwhelmed with many great bands and classic albums and the metal machine still goes strong, regardless of trends and the mainstream. The metal underground is in a healthy condition and there are countless talented bands storming the scene. Unfortunately a lot of these bands don’t get a shot and their musical legacy usually doesn’t spread further than their direct environment. Fortunately there are labels out there that do give unknown bands a chance to prove their qualities and re-release their earlier, mostly self-financed, works. Take the German Killer Metal Records, which is re-releasing Dark Mirror’s debut album, ‘Visions Of Pain’ (2007), this month and thereby gives metal heads a hearty treat.

The album starts with a melodic intro, which initially is a bit misleading. I for one, expected the band to continue with a heavy piece of doom after that. But nothing could be less true, because after the intro the band rips your speakers with the powerful ‘Nightmares’ and its delightful (US) heavy and speed metal and NWOBH riffs, straight from the eighties. The music immediately summons the atmosphere of bands like Grim Reaper, Attacker, Judas Priest, Omen, Halloween, W.A.S.P., Mercyful Fate/King Diamond and countless other bands that roamed the underground 25 years ago and up to this day are considered (semi) legendary. The band also reminds me a bit of German shockrockers Solemnity, but there where this band not always succeeds in delivering convincing and catchy songs, Dark Mirror does manage to do that and comes up with songs that do manage to linger for a while. The band’s powers lie within simple, catchy riffing and ditto vocal lines. Singer/front man Alonso Donoso is also a constant factor and plays a leading role. Although he’s not the best vocalist the world has ever know and his vocals are definitely a matter of taste, his voice does have an old-school charm that immediately grabs you. He sounds like a mixture between Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil and Steve Sylvester (Death SS) and although he doesn’t match up to these gentlemen’s level, he does know to convince. His true power lies with his high-pitched vocals that come very close to King Diamond and Rob Halford! In general the music also has the same mysterious character that King Diamond’s albums behold.

Although the band and the album have definitely made a good impression on me, I must also make a few side notes. The drum sound for a example is too dull and sometimes even canny and not all tracks are equally convincing. Especially in the slower, more acoustic pieces the band drops a few stitches and the songs become in danger of becoming boring. More than that I find it a real pity that they haven’t supported the solos with a second guitar, so that there seems to be a hole in the music during the solos. When a band does that live due to the lack of a second guitar player is already annoying, but on the album this can be prevented! Maybe they did this on purpose so that the band doesn’t sound too different on stage. But I can’t say that this approach has been very fruitful for the album.

Anyway, altogether ‘Visions Of Pain’ is a successful debut album, which definitely deserves to be heard. It also will definitely apply to the fans of eighties heavy speed metal. This re-release contains a new cover artwork, all the lyrics and the band’s first demo (2005) as bonus.

Marco Battaglia - Bass
Tim Cummings - Drums
Eric Wicker - Guitars
Alonso Donoso - Vocals