ALARIC – end of mirrors – CD

End of Mirrors is the new album from Oakland-based band Alaric. Claustrophobic, gloomy, and epically grandiose, we find the four members coming together at the height of their powers. As with their previous efforts, the new LP was recorded and mixed by Skot Brown at his Kempton House studios. Brown’s contributions have been crucial to realizing the vision of the band and expanding on it to create a soundscape that can be murky, creepy, and complex while giving the songs a chance to breathe and shine with exceptional clarity. Shane Baker’s lyrics are simultaneously deeply personal and universal in scope. They reflect hard times in a fallen world at a time of monumental change in the lives of the band members. These are emotional and deeply physical journeys they are taking us on here. This is inky, blackened stuff, but not without a glint of hope. It could be moonlight shining through a crack in the wall or maybe just a sickly glow out of the corner of your eye.