Review Summary: An amazing follow up to Child Soldier: Creator of God.
Greg Puciato debut solo album,
Child Soldier: Creator of God was a slightly flawed but an endlessly enjoyable record. His follow up,
Mirrorcell, does everything a follow up should do by changing things up a bit while still making it another satisfying listen from beginning to end.
It is apparent from the beginning that Greg Puciato has streamlined his sound, cutting out the jarring track to track experimentation of off
Child Soldier in order to make a much more cohesive record. This time he has focused on a more grungy and hard rock sound.
Reality Spiral starts the album off with a bang. It features some groovy riffs and an intense and exciting pay off at the end. This sound carries onto
No More Lives to Go just as successfully as before in all departments. The slower but even more impactful
Never Wanted That comes up next with a guitar hook that instantly weaves itself into your head. The vocal lines are stellar accomplishing a notable and a terrific melody.
However, Greg Puciato definitely did not forget to experiment on
Mirrorcell. The minimalistic synth-pop jam
We shows off Puciato’s natural ability to create a catchy and unforgettable vocal line. The shoegaze tinged
Lowered shows off even more musical range and genre bending talent alongside an outstanding vocal performance by him and the songs feature, Reba Meyers of Code Orange fame. The most enjoyable aspect throughout the album is definitely Greg Puciato’s vocals. He never has any trouble on portraying the tone he wants to deliver, whether that is to be powerful, commanding or soothing.
I, Eclipse contains one of the more mighty performance off the album with his rough cleans that then crescendo into a dynamic vocal line that is in company with heavy and compelling riffage.
Mirrorcell does require multiple re-listens though as it is far from as instantly engaging as
Child Soldier was. This is due to less experimentation causing less standout moments. It is kind of a double edged sword with the lacking of much experimentation. It makes the album feel more cohesive, and as a result, more whole but the immediate memorability and catchiness is absent here. Songs such as
No More Lives To Go and
Rainbows Underground fall behind from the rest of the tracklist as a consequence of this even though that these songs both individually great. They are far from a weak point on the album particularly after re-listens.
Just like
Child Soldier, the album ends on a seriously high note with
All Waves to Nothing. The closer is a nine minute long beast that begins with potent screams similar to the good old days of The Dillinger Escape Plan. This section then crashes to a halt letting a relaxing guitar lead breathe with some calming vocals until the song picks up again for a momentous end point for the album with more shouts and cleans and crushing riffage.
Overall,
Mirrorcell is another strong solo album from Greg Puciato. It is filled to the brim with strong and powerful vocals and contains satisfying and exciting riffs for days. The album undeniably has multiple highlights including
Lowered and
All Waves to Nothing. The album did need a bit more experimentation and genre bending although this also means the album is much more focused creating a largely better listening experience.
