Mooncry: “A Mirror’s Diary” – From the get-go, the album opens with gunfire!

“A Mirror’s Diary” is a crushing album from the German metal band, Mooncry. Anyone who likes creative, intelligently composed music, with amazing players, should give it a shot.  Overall the playing is as good you would expect from this type of band. In particular, Alex Schwenk (on bass) and Philipp Zeller (on drums), give stellar performances.

In fact, drum-heads should pick this up immediately, as the rhythm section absolutely crushes it. But all-round the band is smoking hot with Sali Hasan on vocals, Berthold Miller on guitars and Enno Hahn on keyboards.

To keep it short, this album is simply brilliant. The album retains the masterful, driving energy of its predecessors while at the same time revealing, growing lyrical depth and maturity in Mooncry’s song writing. Therefore it comes as no surprise that “A Mirror’s Diary” won an “Album Of The Year” award.

From the get-go, the album opens with gunfire, the drum salvo comes in with force, a common theme in the album, the drums are right there powering the songs.

The songs are all masterfully crafted, drawing on Mooncry’s strengths; its strong powerful lyrics and overdriven amps and tension-filled guitars. Many of the songs hit you like a train with their powered riffs. Every song feels fresh and the album flows quite well.

The riffs are more complex than before and the vocal melodies are better than ever, with Sali Hasan testing his range on such tracks as the epic “Puppet Crow” or “Defamed Pride” and “Pictures of Thee” among others. It’s admirable to see him moving to new levels with his trademark voice. Much more care has also been taken in song construction and the songs have some great lead parts and more diverse structures, even some cleaner portions, making this their strongest album to date.

The Eastern-tinged “Scylla” was meant for radio, but more so it’s a blistering assault on the ears. Likewise, “A Thousand Lives” and the fierce and nasty “Burning Curtains” are venomous yet catchy and downright crunchy. Track after track this is also a rollicking affair, keeping the album’s intensity genuine.

But most surprising is The Beast Within Me with its swirling, brooding dreamy acoustic guitars. It seems like a cousin to the album closer “Angel of Darkness”, which has its own voice…a very soothing one that explodes into a soaring one, and back again.

Make no mistake, though, most of “A Mirror’s Diary” is meant to please the headbangers and metal fans who like the harder side of Mooncry. It certainly does possess the best assets this band has to offer…fierce, crunchy metal that will seep into your brain upon the first listen.

“A Mirror’s Diary” represents the multifaceted ferocity and beauty of Mooncry. Containing some of the most heavy songs written, and even three atmospheric tracks that complement the end of the album nicely. With their third release, Mooncry really shines, harder and better than ever before.

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