MIRRORED

A really good and refreshing album, full of intricate and complex guitar parts intertwined together against a backdrop of loud and powerful, yet simple, drumming. Add happy and/or weird vocals and a lot of guitar sound effects and you have Battles.

However, Mirrored is a great album to own if you happen to like Discipline-era King Crimson and Gentle Giant guitar playing and vocals harmony (listens especially to Tonto). I think the whole interest of the album lies in the really interesting guitars interplay, the use of guitar textures and the ingenuity of the composition. There is some serious virtuosity in there, even if it's not in a « in your face » way. However, this music is somewhat repetitive and, being so, won't please to everybody in the prog-rock fandom.

It is not pure progressive rock, but it's prog with a modern edge to it, at the juncture of indie rock and electronic music. Really good indeed!