
Second album from the seven-member band Empty Mirror, two years after the EP “Echoes Of Eternity”. “Deus Profanus” was released on Christmas Day and although it is typically a full-length, the differences with the EP in terms of the amount of material are not big. The former is just three minutes shorter and has one more song. A detail one would say and that’s how it is, what matters is the result which I can say is completely satisfying.
“Echoes Of Eternity” was an interesting first effort for the Athenian band, but it left a lot of promises for the future. Promises that they have the talent and the potential to offer us even better things. Something like that becomes reality in “Deus Profanus”. Empty Mirror sound wise move in the gothic metal area, having some doom influences, symphonic elements as well as two people behind the microphone, Andreas Denwar (ex-Chthonian Alchemy) on spoken/extreme vocals and Aphrodite on clean vocals, who alternate their parts successfully.
The differences with “Echoes Of Eternity” are not many but significant. “Deus Profanus” has better production, more guitar melodies (like e.g. in “Medea”) and generally more interesting and well-structured songs. This doesn’t mean that the EP was uninteresting and sloppy, it just shows the evolution of the musicians in the compositional field. The only downside I notice is that neither of them have been released in physical form yet, as I would love to have them in my collection.
Influenced mostly by the 90s sound, think mostly of Theatre Of Tragedy of the early albums (more of the iconic “Aégis”), i.e. before they lose their way, to give you a baseline for reference. There are also elements of other bands that made history during that period, such as Paradise Lost for example, but that has to do with what they might remind each listener of. In general, Empty Mirror serve in the right way a musical style that really doesn’t have so many representatives in our country, so fans of gothic metal should check them out.