Taking Control, Again
Taking Control, Again
Control by. Mirror Lake - Single Review
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Things just keep rolling here in the Music Review Army. In this edition we have local Houston band Mirror Lake's latest single "Control". A while back I reviewed their first single "Empty Home". A track that I enjoyed quite a bit and listen to frequently. When they dropped this single a while back it took me a while to get to it and I am severely regretting it. But now that I have had time to thoroughly I can sit here and write down my thoughts on it. Because it is my belief that this band has the potential to make it somewhere.
They has a lineup of some pretty solid and awesome awesome people. Zach Zepol and Avery Jean Clay on vocals. Mark Delgadillo on guitar. Eli Rodriguez on bass. And last but not least there is Brian Mertz on drums. He also runs the local record label Bravery Sound. Links to all of the band's socials as well as Bravery Sound's will be down below as always.
Moving on to the this single. It follows the band's sound of metal-core and post-hardcore. Reminding me of Silent Planet, Convictions, and a little bit of Memphis May Fire, I wanna say. But they also bring in some Volumes and We Came As Romans vibes with their two vocalists. One Mainly singing, and the other screaming. And this track definitely falls somewhere in all of that. Which, if you know me that is my main type of jam. Even though I do dabble a bit in other genres. As you can see from my last blog post about pop singer Troye Sivan's latest single.
But back to this track. Right off the bat it hits you heavy and deep. Kind of like the beginning of Silent Planet's "Understanding Love As Loss" or Phinehas's "Dark Flag". Coming at you with heavy guitar and bass as well as fast and methodical drumming right off the top. And dive straight into the lyrics within the first 10 seconds. This song doesn't have the typical verse/chorus flow. However. It follows and A-A-C-B-A style structure. That is., verse/verse/chorus/bridge/verse. An interesting style that I don't typically see all too often. But do enjoy heavily if it is done right. Regardless. This song definitely has that hit you right in the gut and the fells vibe. And now. We move on to my favorite part of this. On to the songs theme, and the lyrical breakdown.
But back to this track. Right off the bat it hits you heavy and deep. Kind of like the beginning of Silent Planet's "Understanding Love As Loss" or Phinehas's "Dark Flag". Coming at you with heavy guitar and bass as well as fast and methodical drumming right off the top. And dive straight into the lyrics within the first 10 seconds. This song doesn't have the typical verse/chorus flow. However. It follows and A-A-C-B-A style structure. That is., verse/verse/chorus/bridge/verse. An interesting style that I don't typically see all too often. But do enjoy heavily if it is done right. Regardless. This song definitely has that hit you right in the gut and the fells vibe. And now. We move on to my favorite part of this. On to the songs theme, and the lyrical breakdown.
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The song hits you straight away with the "first verse" being screamed by Zach. "Let's take it back to a buried past. To a broken home, with nowhere else to go. She steadies her hand, bottoms up, as the blade begins to dull. What's worse than living without a soul?" Before it is finished off by Avery singing mixed with Zach's screams "Will you help me? Will you save me? She screams through bloodshot eyes as she falls to her knees. God forgive me, I've given in once again. Her burdens overwhelming, these demons will never leave." So right away we see that this story, or theme, might you say, is not one that is happening completely in the present. It is a culmination of events from the girl's past that has impacted her bad habits in the present. How these habits that she uses as a coping mechanism are taking control of her.
Continuing on to in the above mentioned flow we have the "second verse" and the lyrics, "So what's the point when these walls surround you, the dark consumes you, and the sound is deafening, silence, and they wonder why she takes a drink." The plot continues and we can see that the girl is feeling closed in with all of the voices in her head. They are so loud that they almost bring on a deafening silence. But the people on the outside can't see or hear them and they question her reasoning for drinking alcohol. "Then the bottles gone, her thoughts a blur, she's fading into oblivion. She drowns herself in a pool of her own filth." But it doesn't stop at one drink. And soon the bottle is gone. She is beyond drunk and she begins to fade off into the full grasp of her demons. They're taking control of her as she drowns herself in a pool of the mess she has created trying to cope with her feelings.
I use these terms loosely as even though I would describe this song in A-A-C-B-A the flow doesn't exactly match. Still we have come tho what I would call the "chorus". I say that merely because it contains a majority of clean vocals. "Hold on to me, through discontent and disease. God knows these problems are so easy to see. What will it take me to lose this time? Because I cant keep control of my mind. say you'll keep me alive." The girl has reached her bottom point of desperation. She calls out for something higher than herself. To god to take her away from this discontent and the disease that she has brought on herself. In desperation she admits that all of her problems are easy to see, and she acknowledges that she can't get out of this on her own.
Next we come to the "bridge". A brief, three part installment that ties everything together before we get the last verse sending us to the end of the song. "Alone at last, she sets the stage for one more dance. A master of self-destruction, she's done this a thousand times. And I never thought you could fall further." We see the beginning of the end starting for this girl. She has been at the edge of the road that leads to her final end for quite some time now. Flirting with the end and thinking the chance of falling completely down the hole was not possible. "What? Of all the things that you buried inside, was it pain that forced you to swallow your pride? Bouts of rage, never held contained. And it all came out when the bottle drained." But as she continued the drinking her mind drew closer to jumping off of the deep end. She has finally reached a pinnacle of anger. Her rage is now consuming her. And it seems as if she may not know what she is doing anymore. "Take these hands when I've had to much, when I've had enough" Now she recites an ominous refrain. She knows that there will be a point soon where she cannot stop herself.
Last. But nowhere near the least. We have reached the final "verse". That last push of the story to seal the the fate of our young girl. "So what's the point when these walls surround you, the dark consumes you, and the sound is deafening, silence, and they wonder why she takes a drink." A simple repetition of the verse above. She is still haunted by her choices and now there is almost nothing left to stop her final descent. "Then the cycle repeats and goes over and over. What's worse than to die alone? Now all she's come to know, is a mind that's not her own." We close out with her last thoughts. A repetitive cycle that might just be finding its final end. She has lost all control now, and her thoughts are now not her own anymore.
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Continuing on to in the above mentioned flow we have the "second verse" and the lyrics, "So what's the point when these walls surround you, the dark consumes you, and the sound is deafening, silence, and they wonder why she takes a drink." The plot continues and we can see that the girl is feeling closed in with all of the voices in her head. They are so loud that they almost bring on a deafening silence. But the people on the outside can't see or hear them and they question her reasoning for drinking alcohol. "Then the bottles gone, her thoughts a blur, she's fading into oblivion. She drowns herself in a pool of her own filth." But it doesn't stop at one drink. And soon the bottle is gone. She is beyond drunk and she begins to fade off into the full grasp of her demons. They're taking control of her as she drowns herself in a pool of the mess she has created trying to cope with her feelings.
I use these terms loosely as even though I would describe this song in A-A-C-B-A the flow doesn't exactly match. Still we have come tho what I would call the "chorus". I say that merely because it contains a majority of clean vocals. "Hold on to me, through discontent and disease. God knows these problems are so easy to see. What will it take me to lose this time? Because I cant keep control of my mind. say you'll keep me alive." The girl has reached her bottom point of desperation. She calls out for something higher than herself. To god to take her away from this discontent and the disease that she has brought on herself. In desperation she admits that all of her problems are easy to see, and she acknowledges that she can't get out of this on her own.
Next we come to the "bridge". A brief, three part installment that ties everything together before we get the last verse sending us to the end of the song. "Alone at last, she sets the stage for one more dance. A master of self-destruction, she's done this a thousand times. And I never thought you could fall further." We see the beginning of the end starting for this girl. She has been at the edge of the road that leads to her final end for quite some time now. Flirting with the end and thinking the chance of falling completely down the hole was not possible. "What? Of all the things that you buried inside, was it pain that forced you to swallow your pride? Bouts of rage, never held contained. And it all came out when the bottle drained." But as she continued the drinking her mind drew closer to jumping off of the deep end. She has finally reached a pinnacle of anger. Her rage is now consuming her. And it seems as if she may not know what she is doing anymore. "Take these hands when I've had to much, when I've had enough" Now she recites an ominous refrain. She knows that there will be a point soon where she cannot stop herself.
Last. But nowhere near the least. We have reached the final "verse". That last push of the story to seal the the fate of our young girl. "So what's the point when these walls surround you, the dark consumes you, and the sound is deafening, silence, and they wonder why she takes a drink." A simple repetition of the verse above. She is still haunted by her choices and now there is almost nothing left to stop her final descent. "Then the cycle repeats and goes over and over. What's worse than to die alone? Now all she's come to know, is a mind that's not her own." We close out with her last thoughts. A repetitive cycle that might just be finding its final end. She has lost all control now, and her thoughts are now not her own anymore.
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And that does it for this blog. I enjoyed everything about this song. From the lyrics to the instrumentals. All the while I have heard some improvements from "Empty Home". The transitions between some of the chords were a little jarred, while in this song they aren't as much. The only thing I can say is that in some parts of the screaming vocals, like these "What's worse than living without a soul.". They can seem a little dry and a bit too forced. But aside from that they keep getting better. And at this rate I can't see their progress slowing down. So be sure to check them out and get a chance to say "Hey! I knew about them before they were famous!". Which is always something that is a pleasing thought. Anyways. Check out the band's social media, as well as "Bravery Sound's". Check out my links as well and be sure to subscribe to this blog, and my YT Channel. Don't forget to hit the notifications for my channel so that you get a notice every time I upload. And as always. I will see you in a new blog. Very soon!
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Links-N-Stuff
Twitter:@CMPMNNR
Insta: CMPMNNR
Patreon: CMPMNNR
YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF43bvnzDy8zkQsFEIXtwPA?
Mirror Lake's Links
FB: @MirrorLakeTX
Twitter: @MirrorLakeTX
Insta: @MirrorLakeTX
Bravery Sound: https://www.facebook.com/braverysound
Mirror Lake's Links
FB: @MirrorLakeTX
Twitter: @MirrorLakeTX
Insta: @MirrorLakeTX
Bravery Sound: https://www.facebook.com/braverysound
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