Band:	Norther
Album:	Mirror Of Madness
Style:	Extreme power metal
Release date:	March 17, 2003
Guest review by:	hottercraft

01. Blackhearted
02. Betrayed
03. Of Darkness And Light
04. Midnight Walker
05. Cry
06. Everything Is An End
07. Unleash Hell
08. Dead
09. Mirror Of Madness
10. Frozen Sky [Japanese bonus]
11. Smash [The Offspring cover] [Japanese bonus]

We all know a lot of Melodic Death Metal bands from Finland. Between them we have Children of Bodom, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, Insomnium... and, of course, this band: Norther. "Mirror Of Madness" was their second release and I'm sure that it is their best album. I have heard they have been compared with Children Of Bodom, and this album is perfect for explaining that they have a different sound.

Norther created a great debut album with "Dreams Of Endless War" and this album isn't worse, it's even better. They fill their songs with a lot of melodies and some excellent lyrics. When I read the lyrics I think I'm reading poetry, but this poetry is about death, it's really special and wonderful.

Talking about the highlights of this CD, we've "Blackhearted", the opening song. I love this song, especially the beginning. "You're seeking perfection but your disillusions are leading to destruction...", a perfect beginning for a perfect song. The next song, "Betrayed", is another masterpiece, and you only need to hear it for knowing why it's so good. Probably one of the most perfect songs is "Cry", it has a great riff in its beginning and it's a bit of a slower song, but it's definitely great. The last highlight is "Mirror Of Madness", and this song is my favourite. There are awesome riffs and I love the lyrics in this song. It's also a really catchy song, especially the chorus. This is, in my opinion, a 'must-hear'song.

I won't talk about weak points in this album, because there isn't really any I don't think, but I want to say that "Unleash Hell", the single of this CD, is a bit repetitive, the riff is the same along all the song.

I definitely think that this is Norther's best CD. We all will think better about Norther if we listened to them more. The problem is that this band is really underrated because some other bands from Finland, mainly Children Of Bodom. I think Norther is better than Children Of Bodom though, you should try listening to them.