Band:	Serpent Column
Album:	Mirror In Darkness
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	September 09, 2019
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Promise Of The Polis
02. Ausweg
03. Seinsvergessenheit
04. Apophenia
05. Amphiclasm
06. Detainment
07. Mirror In Darkness
08. Lotophagia
09. Warlords Of The World To Come
10. Mεταγενέσιν

We've all surely heard of technical death metal by now. But technical black metal? Now there's something you don't hear every day.

Serpent Column comes as one of the latest additions to Mystiskaos, who have been gaining increasing relevance as of late for their left field black metal roster. By the standards of the collective, Mirror In Darkness is something of a deviation, featuring not a hypnotizing brand of psychedelic black metal as has tended to be the Mystiskaos focus, but rather a puzzling, prog-infused black metal of a particularly unique variety. Here a multitude of riffs dance around each other for a complicated though strangely alluring formula somewhat reminiscent of some of the more technical moments from Deathspell Omega, creating a mood of frenetic chaos that appears ready to go overboard at any second but nonetheless feels guided throughout by some invisible hand of order.

While the technical riffing can take a while to get used to, especially at the higher tempos, thankfully on Mirror In Darkness Serpent Column demonstrates an ability to space out the barrage with some more relaxed moments, relatively speaking, such as on "Seinsvergessenheit" or "Detainment." Slower and a bit more melodic, these tracks serve as something of a breather from the more manic, proggy style that forms the bulk of the album, and serve as a good testament to Serpent Column's ability to pace the flow of its compositions quite well.

Though a bit of a challenge upon a first impression, Mirror In Darkness is an album that ultimately rewards multiple plays, as each subsequent listen allows the multiple layers of the songwriting to sink in better. While it may sound overly meandering at points, there definitely is an underlying sense of structure and flow to the compositions here, one that makes for an engaging, if slightly unusual listen. Though they may be something of a black sheep in Mystiskaos from a stylistic standpoint, Serpent Column's technical and delightfully unusual take on black metal is as good an addition to the collective as any.

Dive in.