Review: Chamber of Mirrors – Tales of Blood

Review by Jeger

Chamber of Mirrors – Tales of Blood

Record Label: Iron Bonehead Productions

Year: 2025

Rating: 9.5/10

When Black Metal began all those years ago with Bathory’s “Under the Sign of the Black Mark”, which is, in my opinion, the blueprint for BM as we know it today, it was never intended to be something even remotely popular: Dark Fortress and Dark Funeral – two prime examples of what the genre was never supposed to become. True Black Metal is adversarial and confrontational! It’s supposed to appall the herd, not draw them in with souped-up production, high dollar visualizers and ridiculous costumes. Euronymous is turning in his grave… And that’s the beauty of the underground. It’s here in these hallowed catacombs where the spirit of those first pure days can be felt. To explore its haunts is to experience the enthralling energy of the Craft in its purest forms. Bands like Affliction Vector, Cult of Eibon and Chamber of Mirrors are just three out of a large number of bands that call the coveted Iron Bonehead Productions roster home. Their music is proper and true to the bone. The latter of these projects mentioned, USA’s Chamber of Mirrors, is a living breathing example of true BM in action. On June 6, they released a curiously haunting specimen of an album in “Tales of Blood” via Iron Bonehead”.

Chamber of Mirrors

Just imagine Watain’s “Rabid Death’s Curse”, only less refined, combined with a little “In the Nightside Eclipse” era Emperor action and you’ll be hitting close to what we have here. There’s aggression, there’s brutality and there’s the rawness of a scalping to experience within tracks like “Dominion” and “Mistress of Blood Red Moon” that saw their way into your consciousness with jagged-edged production quality, all the while as they mystify the senses with cascading swoops of atmospheric overlays; nothing at all overbearing though, just enough—something in the vein of Borgir’s “Stormblåst” LP.

Fuck genre confinement, this is music for sacrifice, for nights spent cloaked and in a state of lamenting divinity; mystified by forbidden sorcery and in awe evil’s magnitude… Let us trace the great serpent’s trail into the “Ancient Ember of Endless Time” – an undying spell of wickedness that draws forth from the Realm of the Formless Spirit – the Astral Plane – the kind of diabolical energy required to create such music. Suspenseful seconds slipping their way into your innermost self with scaling riffs, an array of percussive techniques and ghastly Necromantic gutturals. Complex melodic sequences backed by a magisterial drumming contribution.

The further into the madness that you venture, the more entranced you become. Black Metal’s iron grip strangles out any propensities for goodness or natural inclinations toward innocence. You’ve reached the point of no return… the Titular track – an epic Dungeon Synth experience. Adventuring now into forlorn realms and under a transcendent-of-time and space type of enchantment until the closing track, “I Am Eternal”, crashes its way into what was a most dreamlike environment. Capping off the experience in proper form is Chamber of Mirrors, as project visionary and sole-instrumentalist, Mortem, unleashes a sonic arsenal that both shocks and awes.

A form-fitting vision of true Black Metal in every way is “Tales of Blood”. Mortem has put together a multilayered, multifaceted recording that feels as if a full lineup of musicians realised it. A formidable Black Metal album from top to bottom; black Metal the way it was always meant to be. These are the types of albums that genuine BM’ers flock to, not Blackbraid or even Yoth Iria records. These are the types of albums that ensure a dignified future for the genre! As long as they’re around, so too shall be hope for the preservation of authentic Black Metal. Enjoy.