Artist: Grieving Mirror
Country: USA
Label: Neuro Plastic
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2026
In summer last year, Grieving Mirror debuted with ‘Opulence And Grandeur’, a very interesting demo tape that showed the multifaceted character of this one-man project, led by multi-instrumentalist Vitovius. It brought together different flavours of Black Metal into something that, despite all of these different components, sounded surprisingly natural. Vitovius now returns with a second demo tape, also released through the Neuro Plastic label, entitled ‘Golden Age Restored’ and offers two tracks with a combined playing time of just over fifteen minutes.
The title might already reveal a little of what’s going on here on this second Grieving Mirror demo tape. ‘Opulence And Grandeur’ was already built on the foundations laid out by a wide range of bands some two or three decades ago. That first demo was, sound-wise, a rather murky affair with a production that was firmly rooted in the Raw Black Metal aesthetics.
And while the lion’s share of what made ‘Opulence And Grandeur’ such a captivating first effort is still very much present, it is the overarching sound that makes the difference. I’m pretty sure there will be people preferring either side of Grieving Mirror, but the truth is, these are sides of the very same coin. ‘Golden Age Restored’ omits the muddy production and is equipped with a much sharper guitar sound. So much so that it reminds me of Mayhem’s ‘Wolf’s Lair Abyss’ and, albeit slightly less apparent, ‘Grand Declaration Of War’. But, as a whole, the music doesn’t sound sterile or mechanical. On the contrary, the organic and natural feel of the debut demo is still very much around and with the slightly more prominent use of the keyboards, as in the outro, ‘Golden Age Restored’ sounds almost pagan-like. That triumphant feel harks back to the late 90s and early 00s Black Metal/Dark Ambient mash-up, not unlike bands such as Vinterriket or even Summoning. With that in mind it definitely feels that ‘Golden Age Restored’ perfectly lives up to its name, even more so than ‘Opulence And Grandeur’ did.
Whether you prefer a muddier sound or approach to Black Metal as a whole or the take on the genre as displayed on this latest piece of work, it’s clear that Vitovius have taken things a step further with Grieving Mirror when it comes to writing gripping songs and developing intensity.
