Wednesday 27 December 2017

Review: Heyoka's Mirror - Loss of Contact with Reality


What’s so fascinating about Heyoka’s Mirror is their ability to seamlessly blend genres, ranging from progressive rock, death metal to jazz, blues, folk and ambient electronica. “Loss of Contact with Reality” is a debut EP from the Calgary trio where they experiment with a wide range of musical styles. In the current metal climate Heyoka’s Mirror feels very refreshing, as where most bands try their hardest to be polyrhytmic and technical, they also add in this odd blend of genres to the mix to shake it up a little.

From the almost 8 minutes opener “Face of Void,” Heyoka’s Mirror starts its journey progressing into different territories as the song / release reaches its end. Everything feels concentrated, but at the same time, stranger than ever. The musicianship isn't just a case of “look how technical we are, now listen to me widdle for a bit,” it's more a case of showing how truly unique they are. Sometimes they have the tendency to just go “here's the death metal bit, now here's the jazz bit, oh now here's a Mike Patton-hanging-around-with-Devin Townsend-esque part,” but on this EP it all just feels a lot more seamless.



The album goes through the second track, “Time Manager,” an even more diverse piece that goes through a strange blending of djent, thrash metal, atmospheric / ambient passage and general proggery. It definitely satisfies my need to hear something that is both unique and original, and just ass-kickingly good.

The last track “Chronovisor” is a 12-minute slab of everything mentioned altogether. It has that potential to leaves you with your jaw dropped open. It begins with some really nice, spaced out prog metal, constantly achieving to pleasure sonically, bringing one to the new heights of musical ecstacy. To say that they are the most impressive and innovative band out there at the moment might seem like a stretch, but I'm struggling to think of any other contenders right now.


If you like any of the genres I listed above (even if it literally is just ONE of those genres), you will be in for a treat with this one.

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