Daily Dose

Formed in Finland in 2007, MindMirror has released two songs on the web before putting out the Daily Dose EP, their first physical release, just a month ago. To quote the band’s own PR, on one level or another they’ve been influenced by the likes of Katatonia, Pain of Salvation, Sentenced and Tarot to name a few. Mixing the sonic images from these bands does paint a pretty good picture of their sound. Gloomy yet hard-driving (steering clear from anything doomy) heaviness teetering between rock and metal with the nifty guitar solo or two and slight proggy touches spread out for diversity.

The first three tunes stomp a notably mid-tempo route with the rocking side of the band in the forefront (although the title track brings more metallic riffage and a heavier groove). Singer Jouni Alho’s vocals operate in the kind of low register that recall’s the likes of Ville Laihiala or somewhat even Phil Anselmo in his non-distorted mode (think the kind of clean vocals he employs on This Love, for example). Alho has a good base and style to build on. More experience should bring more confidence to his singing which now is technically acceptable but could use more strength, general “oomph” if you will.

The final song, Options, is the purest metal tune on the EP. The tempo gets notably faster and Alho blasts out some snappy growls at select times to reflect the more aggressive atmosphere. The sweetest guitar solo is saved for this tune as well. The production is very admirable for a self-release with everything in balance and pounding strong. Overall, MindMirror's Daily Dose can be easily recommended for fans of the moodier side of heavy music and perhaps even beyond. What I'd like to hear most of all in the future from these guys is faster material, blatantly letting it rip because I feel the band's potential can easily reach there as well without going too far from their chosen style.