As troubling as it is vibrant, Palace of Mirrors, by Toronto-based mad scientists Gates (led by Bryan W. Bray), is a smoke-filled, fragrant cathedral of a record. Now, the album (which first appeared online in late 2015) is finally getting a vinyl release.
Composed of four towering tracks written between 2010 and 2013, Palace of Mirrors is an incredibly unusual album in a spatial sense, moving from vast and echoing to claustrophobic and smothering, often several times within the span of a single track. The walls of "Throne of Light" close in on the listener, only to retreat again; sometimes the instrumentation is spare, almost peaceful, before the rough, ravenous intensity of the distortion comes crashing down once more. "Deliverer/Redeemer" is more of a menacing slow burn, an ever-increasing and relentlessly evil track that claws at the throat like a vengeful ghost.
Whether a moment is achingly empty or so full it threatens to shake the listener apart, Palace of Mirrors is an exercise in being overwhelmed.
(Hypaethral)Composed of four towering tracks written between 2010 and 2013, Palace of Mirrors is an incredibly unusual album in a spatial sense, moving from vast and echoing to claustrophobic and smothering, often several times within the span of a single track. The walls of "Throne of Light" close in on the listener, only to retreat again; sometimes the instrumentation is spare, almost peaceful, before the rough, ravenous intensity of the distortion comes crashing down once more. "Deliverer/Redeemer" is more of a menacing slow burn, an ever-increasing and relentlessly evil track that claws at the throat like a vengeful ghost.
Whether a moment is achingly empty or so full it threatens to shake the listener apart, Palace of Mirrors is an exercise in being overwhelmed.