Mekong Delta - In A Mirror Darkly

Published April 13 2014

*=Staff's pick	Introduction Ouverture The Armageddon Machine The Sliver In Gods Eyes Janus Inside The Outside Of The Inside Hindsight Bias Mutant Messiah*

Genre	Progressive Metal	Martin LeMar	Vocals
Tracks	8	Erik Adam H. Grösch	Guitar
Running time	46 Min.	Ralf Hubert	Guitar
Label	Steamhammer/SPV	Ralf Hubert	Bass
Release	23 April 2014	Alex Landenburg	Drums
Country	Germany	-	Keyboard
Producer	Ralf Hubert
Similar artists	---

Mekong Delta in different outfits has been around since forever as it seems. I never took the time to listen to them back in the day and therefore this is a new experience to me.

Even after a dozen spins, I straight-out can't put my finger on this record. Something from the very start told me that this effort would be a long and cumbersome ride though. The record opens with two instrumental intros, which in total runs for over 7.5 minutes, before the vocals join in. This rather intricate piece of music creates an atmosphere that for me is kind of jerky and wavering, without any notable captivating passages that attract my interest.

What I mainly hear are songs with complex approaches and varied arrangements that include a few thrash metal elements. Focus is immensely set on the actual state of progressive orientation and the songs are way too complicated to find the path to reliability, as far as I'm concerned. As a metalhead, I think it suffers from a lack of appealing impacts and nor is it able to create a spirited feeling within my body and soul.

I am struck by the will to consistently move this ship in a die-hard direction of progressive metal, but in my point of view, this direction definitely jeopardize the outcome to an extent that can't be reversed. I finally want to make clear that I don't think that this record is utter shit, but it arguably doesn't connect to what I believe is an enjoyable metal record.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	7	6	6	3

Summary
3 chalices of 10 - Tobbe