Mirage is a heavy metal/hard rock band from Denmark formed in 1982, releasing their debut album ‘…And The Earth Shall Crumble’ in 1985, and then going on a three-decade hiatus in 1989! For thirty-three long years, Mirage remained silent… Until 2022, when the band’s long-awaited second album was released – ‘The Sequel’, featuring eight songs that were written way back in the eighties as a follow-up to their debut!
I say “long-awaited second album”, because the band did proclaim, on the back cover of ‘…And The Earth Shall Crumble’ – “Watch Out For The Sequel” (check it out below).
So, for all you Mirage fans who have been waiting patiently for over thirty years – the wait is over! ‘The Sequel’ is here…
…eight songs of melodic metal and rock over an infectious forty-one minutes – ‘In The Days Of Rama’ bringing the album to life in a blaze of thunder, adopting a traditional mid-tempo pace. With its highly addictive and hymn-like chorus, ‘In The Days Of Rama’ is a glorious opener and one that is soaked in eighties pomp! This is not really surprising, as the songs for this album were written during the eighties…
So of course there are the eighties feel, yet the band adds modern touches so as not to sound retro.
Picking up the pace and trotting on, ‘Guiding Light’ is a punchy and hard kicking head bang-able slice of melodic metal, with one helluva sing long-able chorus! The audience in a live arena is gonna go wild for this one!
Heavier than the opening double, ‘The Emperor’ cruises in and slams listeners with its attitude and bustling nature. The guitars resonate with the classic sound of the NWOBHM, and with its chant-style chorus, Mirage is onto a sure-fire winner with this one. The album began with an intensity level that projects an air of “come listen to me”, and that air is in no danger of dissipating as the band moves on with the mellow strains of ‘Far Away’ – an edge-of-your-seat atmosphere descending upon the album. ‘Far Away’ may have begun like a ballad, but as it progresses, an energetic bounce rebounds from the speakers and you find your feet involuntarily tapping along. Becoming the heaviest and most metal song on offer, ‘Robot 9’ is fast-paced with a brash guitar sound, and a sense of purpose not heard previously. Mosh pits all around the world will come to life with this one, vigorous head banging the order of the day.
Anthemic heavy metal rises high to the surface as ‘Flowers For Algemon’ gets underway, assuming a higher pace and the classic galloping style of traditional metal, planting both feet firmly on the monitor. Definitely eighties sounding, ‘Flowers For Algemon’ is gonna please all the old metallers – and a few new ones too! ‘Haunted’ is the most menacing song on the album, maintaining a heavier and darker atmosphere than heard anywhere else. Yet the band’s immense melodious nature is plastered all over ‘Haunted’, just as it’s plastered over the entire album! The years have no detriment to the band’s sound.
Bringing ‘The Sequel’ to a close, is the seven-plus minute meandering of ‘When Autumn Comes’ – swinging from ballad to hymn-like to heavy mid-tempo foot stomping! Appealing to rock as well as metal fans, ‘When Autumn Comes’ shows a little progression in the band’s sound from everything else on offer and is an unexpected end to a very good heavy metal album.
Overall, packed with eighties-sounding traditional metal and rock, ‘The Sequel’ has been worth the three-decade wait.
TRACKLIST
In The Days Of Rama
Guiding Light
The Emperor
Far Away
Robot 9
Flowers For Algemon
Haunted
When Autumn Comes
Mirage: Facebook
Release Year: 2022
Label: From the Vaults
Category: Album
Country: Denmark
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire, and Metal-Roos.
