Album Reviews : One-Way Mirror – One-Way Mirror

One-way Mirror is yet another supergroup to come about, featuring members of Mnemic (singer: Guillaume Bideau), Soilwork (drummer: Dirk Verbeuren), Scarve (Bass: Loic Colin), and Lynzanxia (guitars: David and Franck Potvin). So from reading that first sentence you’ll probably already have your mind set on what this band will sound like. Well, lets take a look to see just how right you are.

First off, One-Way Mirror does sound like a mix of the bands the members have come from, but a slightly more accesable, almost radio friendly version of them. Describing this album as a whole isnt the easiest thing to do.. the songs in themselves come off sounding almost chaotic at times (in a good way) yet the formula can grow old over the length of an album. Maybe it was easier than I thought?!

The sound on the album is clearly not the sound of amatures. Each track features a wall of sound, chuncky riffs, and crisp drumming. It has been handled well; from the drums recorded by Daniel Bergstrand who has already worked with 3 of the 5 bands the members come from, to the album being mixed and mastered by Tue madsen (Rob Halford, Sick of it All).

The album features quality hard rock anthem chrouses, and breakdowns fit for the metal nightclub dancefloor. There is a tinge of industrial, and also.. its gonna scare some people.. but nu-metal! This is most evident in tracks like ReDream which I had to check a few times was in fact not a heavy Linkin Park song when it came to the chorus. Guillaume Bideau seems to have expanded his vocal repetois ranging from some insanely metal screams, to Corey Taylor-esque vocals (Deprived of Connection), to yep, Chester Bennington inspired yelling (the aforementioned ReDream and Keeping Me Away). Gotta give him credit though, he can pull it off, but it will alienate some people.

I hope I’m not giving the wrong impressions here. This album is heavy. But its pretty one dimensional. They found a sound they can do well, and they stuck with it, if a little too tighly. The only real exception here is their piss poor cover of Franky Goes to hollywoods’ ‘Relax’. Its comparable to Raunchy’s ‘Somebody’s Watching over Me’, easily the worst track on the album. Please leave that shit for bonus tracks people!

Overall people with an open mind that don’t need a brutal battering when they listen to their music will enjoy this release. Its a good album, dropping the cover, they’ve written 10 good tracks, without a bad one. So its worth checking out if you’re feeling nostalgic.. but looking for something new!

7/10

Band: One-Way mirror
Album: One-Way Mirror
Year: 2008
Genre: Metal
Label: Metal Blade/Stomp
Origin: Europe
http://www.myspace.com/onewaymirrorband

Tracklist:
1. Destination Device
2. As You Are Now
3. ReDream ? Reviewers Choice
4. Danger Calling
5. Empty Spaces
6. Deprived Of Connection
7. Keeping Me Away
8. Sockracer
9. 21st Century
10. Relax
11. Liberation Sphere