Mirrorthrone - Carriers of Dust CD Review

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2006-03-09 : Britton : Link
Mirrorthrone Reviewed - 03/05/06
Carriers Of Dust
[Red Stream, Inc.]
Rating: 9.5/10

When Mirrorthrone released their "Of Wind And Weeping" album a while back, I was amazed at what Vladimir, the lone member of Mirrorthrone, managed to pull off all by himself. That album was full of neat and clever ideas, and some outstanding mastery of the various instruments he played. It definitely didn't sound like anything else out there, and still doesn't to this day. Early 2006 sees Mirrorthrone release their newest album "Carriers Of Dust", and I have to say, the man managed to top himself with this one. In fact, this album is about three times as good as "Of Wind And Weeping"!

"Carriers Of Dust" keeps most of the Baroque sound that "Of Wind And Weeping" had, but it uses the Baroque as an auditory backdrop for Vladimir to try different ideas this time around. Of course there's the avant-garde symphonic Black/Death Metal aspect that is played with exquisite precision. This Metal aspect is actually the biggest improvement over the last album as Vladimir seems to have been taught how to play music better by an entire school of musicians, not that his musical ability was bad on the last album. There's time changes galore found on this album, and at no time on this disc was I able to predict what would happen next! Like the last album, "Carriers Of Dust" relies a lot on the use of a synth. This is okay though as the synth used here is so varied that never does it grate on my nerves or become monotonous. Vladimir likes to change the sound on his synth a lot, so sometimes it sounds like a church organ, sometimes like a grand piano, sometimes like various classical instruments, sometimes like traditional folk instruments, etc. I wish more bands would do that, but a majority of them like to leave their synth at one setting from the beginning to the end of an album. I'm not sure if "Of Wind And Weeping" had real drums or programmed drums, but they are at least partly real drums on the new one here. The guitar tracks he laid down for this disc blew me away. This guy can simply shred! Usually when a musician goes off on his own to do a one man project, it is because they can't find other musicians as good as they are to help them. I wouldn't doubt at all that this is the case with Vladimir and Mirrorthrone. Red Stream has always been a label to sign the odd and unique bands, and once you hear this album you'll agree they were right in singing Mirrorthrone. For those that love the longer songs, you'll be happy to know that of the four tracks on this album, three are around ten minutes long and one clocks in at just over twenty minutes in length.

Vladimir can sing in whatever style he damn well pleases it seems. He has a nice Black style, a respectable Death grunt, and an extremely pleasing clean style that sounds Folk in nature. I have no idea what the lyrics are about on the album since all but one of the songs are written and sung in French, but if they are anything like the rambling mass of text that was released in ads describing the album, I'd guess they were of the quite bizarre variety.

The production values on "Carriers Of Dust" are leaps and bounds better than those found on "Of Wind And Weeping". Everything is clean sounding and there's plenty of bass while not sounding too muffled or tinny. If that isn't impressive in its own right, Vladimir recorded, produced and engineered the entire thing in his house!

The packaging... Hmmm... All I was given was a lyric booklet and the C.D., so I don't know if the actual C.D. you buy is a digipak and this is just the insert, or if this comes in jewel case. Whatever, just buy the damn thing and find out! The cover shows an odd image of... what the fuck is that? It looks like a half naked woman with sutures on her tits, some machinery and a butterfly wing. It looks cool though. The inside of the booklet has all of the lyrics, a photo of Vladimir, and some more abstract artwork. Just because I guess there's nothing he can't do, Vladimir designed the entire layout and design of the booklet too.

If you're into avant-garde/symphonic/classical/baroque/folky/black art Metal, and I know you are, I can almost guarantee that you will love this album. This is in my opinion the finest album ever released through Red Stream, and it is sure to be a contender for my Top Ten Of 2006 list at the end of the year. A simply stunning album from one of Metal's finest musicians!
2006-03-03 : Anonymous Coward : Link
MIRRORTHRONE is a one man wrecking machine by the name of Vladimir. He does all vocals, lead & rythm guitars, bass, drums & synthesizer programming. This is one amazing & highly talented guy! The music is done in an old school Black metal meets new school Black Metal style. There are many elements of Death Metal present all through out though. The music is very heavy & intense brutality mixed with some very well orchestrated music as well. There are a lot of change ups & hooks in the music too. I low how it goes from hyper fast to a slower more atmospheric & melodic part. The vocals are done in a mid ranged Death/Black Metal growling style along with some more melodic & almost Goth like vocals. This guy is one of the best musicians I have ever heard!!! I highly recommend every Black Metal fan to pick up this CD!!!
2006-03-03 : Anonymous Coward : Link
Mirrorthrone – Carriers Of Dust (Red Stream)
review by Pete Woods

Suave and debonair is a very good description of this album by Swiss composer Vladimir, the sole proprietor behind Mirrorthrone. I really enjoyed the debut album Of Wind And Weeping as it really harked back to the classical music that I was brought up on and if only I had the time, would still listen to a lot more often. Carriers Of Dust expands upon the neo-classical music of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, naturally wrapping it all up with the feudal romanticism of symphonic black metal. These 4 tracks flow gracefully and are polished in the extreme, this should not put you off in the slightest as the extremity is ever present to set your heart beating all the faster around the passionate renaissance of the main compositions.
These songs are pretty much epic in form and it is evident that one hell of a lot of thought and dedication has been put into their preparation. In fact the word song just doesn’t really do things justice here: for example opener A Scream to Express The Hate Of a Race (besides being a title no doubt missed by Xasthur) at 10 minutes long, structurally resembles a mini concerto more than anything else. Austerely bearing down with an organ fugue we are whipped into a fast flowing tumult of lush and poetic diaphanous melody. Akin to being thrown into a fast flowing river, this picks the listener up and carries them off, twisting and turning and at times dragging across dangerous rocks and at others soothing with a meandering moment of placidity (and putting things in plain English, it is damn catchy as well). Vocally we have the competent growling that one would expect as well as some very accomplished clean sweeps (very reminiscent of Cornelius of Solefald to these ears). Perpetuating the track are fragments of atmospheric and maudlin finality providing a funereal portrayal of utter solitude and abject abandonment.

It is the final track that if anything is the symphony, weighing in at a whopping 22 minutes we have Morphose one of 3 tracks sang in French so beyond my understanding as far as subject matter is concerned. This starts musically with a B-movie panache and "grimly fiendish" keyboards weaving away before they are cast aside by crooning and a tumultuous rampant orchestration. This is obviously complex stuff with plenty going on, a recurrent theme within the instrumentation comes back to haunt and will have you recognising it and humming along very quickly. Carriers Of Dust is an involving listen and a mature piece of work well worth your attention. Like a good novel this has had me gripped wanting to turn the next page and discover the magic within.