Review by Vinny for Myrath - Wilderness of Mirrors (2026)

Unexpected and completely unannounced, Myrath have landed in my world and made an almighty impact by way of this month’s Infinite feature release. On paper, there was a lot to alarm me with the tags of symphonic metal and progressive metal throwing up two of some of my least favoured sub-genres. However, the reality of the actual listening experience has proven far more empowering than I ever could have expected. Wilderness of Mirrors is catchy, hooky and as result incredibly memorable. The spontaneity that presented upon my first listen was just the catalyst to a consistently rewarding album that repeated listens through seem to only improve on that initial positive reception.

The symphonic elements are thankfully not huge orchestral movements, and nor are they washy keys that flood everything either. The Middle Eastern influences on show here are incorporated skilfully into varying tempos and rhythms. Accented vocals are not always done well (Orphaned Land come to mind here) but in the main the vocals here only add to the authenticity of the music. There is some clunkiness to them sometimes, like on the track ‘Until the End’ featuring Amaranthe’s Elize Ryd where there is the annoying extension of words to make them fit the music, or on the opening to ‘Les Enfants Du Soliel’ when the choral vocals get sung over by the band’s vocalist. Whilst they are isolated moments, they do linger on the mind for a while after.

Production wise, Wilderness of Mirrors is immaculately produced. It is to be expected though. Within a few minutes of album opener ‘The Funeral’ it becomes clear that anything less production values wise would be a travesty. This is an album that is wanting to soar from the off, taking little time to awaken that massive wingspan. I would have more stars for it if perhaps the record did not dip in quality towards the end. After my personal favourite track, ‘The Clown’ things do get a little samey for me. Even though the musicianship remains strong and exuberantly showy, there is a sense of the ideas tank starting to run on empty over the final four tracks. This has still been a revelation for my usually more extreme ear however and I must have played this album for around two weeks on a daily basis.