Review: "Mirror of Madness" by the Finnish Metal Band "Norther"

Finnish melodic death metal band Norther started their career off strong with their solid debut album called Dreams of Endless War. If that one was a good one, their 2^nd studio album "Mirror of Madness" is also a very good one as well. I really got into this album several years ago with the song Betrayed. The song starts out with vocalist and guitarist Petri Lindroos (pronouced LIND-ROSS) letting out a long growl and by this you know he means business. Betrayed is a song about someone enduring a breakup due to his partner cheating on him and leaving him. He is filled with so much anger and so much hate that he is willing to get back at his ex-girlfriend no matter what the cost will be. It does not help if you wake up one morning and realize that you have been betrayed. Of Darkness and Light starts with a keyboard based sound before Petri’s voice kicks in. However in this album there are no instrumental songs. Is there really a way to have a mirror of madness? The title must be a pun on words. Is Betrayed the best song in this album? I would certainly give it enough credit for being this album’s best song.

We forgot to address the first song in this album which is called Blackhearted. In this song, Petri lets out a long growl as well and it has a power metal feel to it even though Norther was a death metal band. Some of you may be asking whether they were a better band than Children of Bodom. I probably like their music better than COB but it is a personal preference.

Midnight Walker is about a creature that is on the loose ready to go after those that are vulnerable. The song’s theme is similar to Judas Priest’s Nightcrawler in 1990. The creature is stalking others and he is ready to snuff out the lives of anyone that he can find. Norther uses keyboard orchestration, melody, and speed to create an entertaining listen especially in this album.

The song "Everything is an End" is a description of what life is really like. When we are born, it is almost like we are a slave to our human bodies. The song is trying to portray that life on this Earth is painful and the only way to be released from this pain is death and finding out the truth, the reasons of why we were brought here. There are many questions that people may ask about the purpose of our existence on Earth and we may not get an answer right away. But each one of us does have a purpose for being on this planet. "Unleash Hell" is a song that describes what an assassin does. They might have gotten motivation to center the lyrics on Iron Maiden’s song Assassin. In other words, the lyrics for this song may have been influenced by that song. "Mirror of Madness" is the last song in this album and it is about someone being surrounded by a mirror that represents something that is not real to him. He tries to do what he can to push this evil force away from him as challenging as that is for him. This mirror is obviously fake and it is telling people lies and those who believe this mirror will be deceived. Mirror of Madness is a good album but it is slightly worse than the band’s debut.