Well, I thought that Space Rock was dead. or at least dying, but when I was passed this CD to review, I damn near wet myself. For too long now the gauntlet thrown down by Hawkwind and, to a lesser degree, Floyd, has been left to moulder on the sidewalk, like a discarded glove.
Space Mirrors is the brainchild of Alisa Coral, and features soundscapes aplenty. In fact lyrics are rarer than dodo shit, and where they do appear, such as on track four "Your Soul's Been Sold" they are wonderfully integrated as merely another layer.
The band features Michael Blackman on guitars, though there are several guest appearances by Prog-maestro Arjen Lucassen and Steve Youles. Stand out track is probably the closer-epic "Dark Jedi", with its seven distinct parts, borrowing some frantic Metallica-like riffing The whole album puts me in mind of the old "Church of Hawkwind" dayz, though without the disturbing cannibalistic edge.
Because I messed up, I have forgotten who wrote the above - will the guilty party please contact me so we can credit you!!

The term spacerock has been used quite a lot over the last few years. Indeed, our good mate Jerry Kranitz has a magazine almost dedicated to the ever expanding musical universe of this art form. It's difficult for reviewers without naming Hawkwind, for lest we forget, it was these guys who started it all. Dead Ernest is a label that's released only a few albums, and whilst they have diversified, Space Mirrors are firmly entrenched in the space rock camp. And what a cracker! It seems that a lot of the new breed of spacerockers take what I reckon to be the best sounds of Hawkwind, and concentrate on it. There's eight tracks here, all chunky buggers, but what I especially enjoyed about this cd was the plain and simple fact that ambient plays just as an important role as rock. Tracks such as Portal Spell, Pale Ghosts, Black Dragon and Dark Jedi have all the right imagery, atmosphere and downright balls to the wall riffing that keeps the space rock flame burning ever so brightly. A gem.
(Dw)
Silhobbit- an online prog-rock mag that knows great music when it hears it

This is a combined music project by three like minded people in music but from two very different worlds. While Space Mirrors was formed by Alisa, a Russian, female multi-instrumentalists, on this project she is joined by Michael Blackman (Alien Dream) on guitars and Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One) also on guitar.
It is some sort of Dark Apocalyptic space music, sometimes falling into the rock category. It also features some really fantastic artwork by Jim Lasko, famous for his great Space Rock light shows!
The CD opens with the Portal Spell, which is a very dark space journey to get you started. I really like the Trip through Inner Space as a slow journey out into the cosmos. This is music that should be accompanied by visuals. Your Souls Been Sold is next and starts off with a very happy synth lead line and is not as dark as the other material, despite the title! Pale Ghost features some very psychedelic guitar playing with a lot of swirling synths bubbling up from beneath. Black Dragon has some beautiful floating synths and guitars that float you out into the unknown. The last track, Dark Jedi, is pretty close to some sort of Space metal and I guess this is the track that Arjen plays on. Alisa does some very spaced out vocals way in the background as well as a 7 part story is told in the 12 minute song. This is quite a successful spaced out effort. If you want to go on a trip into deep space, this is highly recommended. For more information you can visit the Space Mirrors web site at: http://www.spacemirrors.com.
Review in online webzine Aural Innovations, courtesy of Scott Heller (who didn't have the sleeve art at the time hence he didn't realise that Lucassen plays on several tracks!!!!)

Space Mirrors are a new name in space rock, made up of some already familar names....the first space rock supergroup? :-) The creative core is Alisa Coral, whose previous album ("Neutron Star", released under the name of Mirrors) was a well-received synthesizer-only album, likened to classic period Tangerine Dream. This time out Alisa is joined by Arjen Anthony Lucassen of Star One fame, and Michael Blackman, whose "Alien Dream" played at the 2003 Hawkfest. It very much remains Alisa's project, though.
There is no mention of a concept to the album, but it could be interpreted as a spiritual journey through the darker recesses of the soul, and without a happy ending! There is an overwhelmingly dark feeling to this album, which nonetheless is core space rock with a plethora of synths and distorted guitars, and relatively few vocal passages.
The CD opens with Portal Spell, a dark foreboding piece of ebbing and swirling synths, swooping guitars and a heavily treated voiceover, intoning the lyrics to be found in the excellent CD booklet. These are spoken rather than sung and are swathed in layers of echo. This number is made of a denser weave, but reminds me slightly of the intro to Rush's track "The Black Hole of Cygnus X1".
At the Crossroads of Worlds - the minor keys continue, with the mix of synths and distorted guitars giving a feeling of menace rather than melancholy. Again, the distant spoken vocals are wrapped in layers of reverb, before a vocal interlude ups the paranoia levels, to be followed by a third movement which brings to mind an alternate version of Gong or Ozric Tentacles, with plenty of space rock trademarks (like synth parts that resemble "space whisper"); but all of them are interwoven with the pervasive sense of impending doom that permeates this work.
A Trip Through Inner Space takes the pace and volume down to provide a minimalistic synth theme, which broadens out into a Hawkwind-like synthscape without losing the underlying sense of isolation and intense cold. Judging by the track title, Space Mirrors were reflecting what it would be like to shut out the external world completely, and have succeeded with this slice of nordic agoraphobia. This is one track where I can hear the Tangerine Dream influence from the previous album, but Space Mirrors' vision is darker and colder than anything the Germans ever did.
Your Soul's Been Sold sounds almost jaunty after the trip through inner space. A bass / drum rhythm lopes along while synaesthesia-inducing bursts of colour from the keyboards are overlaid with melodic guitar fills which not only play in a major key but have a brighter tone than on previous tracks. As the theme develops, the keyboard parts become more intricate and gradually overshadow the guitar so that by the time the track ends, on five minutes, it has moved away from the almost joyful theme to something altogether more disturbing and unsettled...
The darkness really returns with Pale Ghosts, where a wah'd guitar thrashes around, enmeshed in synth atmospherics, until the rhythm kicks in - somehow managing to increase the chaos quotient of the track rather than diminishing it. Claustrophobic and paranoia inducing, there is an overwhelming vibe of what Ozric Tentacles might have come up with had they been force fed on an exclusive diet of Black Metal for a month. The most strongly developed rhythms on this album pop up in this track from about the four minute mark onwards, before a smooth almost ambient coda fades out the final minute or so.
It's Cold Today In Underworld opens in a way that is very reminiscent of some of Harvey Bainbridge's best contributions to Hawkwind, but all such thoughts are banished by the onset of the heavy,crunching guitar work. The vocals on this number are the clearest and most accessible yet - and when they come in, the guitar retreats into the background and this once again prompts the Hawkwind comparisons. Meanwhile the synths spiral in on themselves remorselessly and the muted guitar strums right on the (mixed very low) beat somehow move this number away from the dominant menace of this album, to a more rock'n'roll place. Though this is still no wander through the tulips!
Black Dragon is next, and here I have to declare an interest: I played the guitars on this track. However I had not heard the final mix until getting a copy of the CD, and doing so gives me the opportunity to assess Alisa Coral's skills with the production - this sounds a lot better than what I was hearing during the recording! The song itself is a five-minute piece where one theme (in the key of Fmaj7) is introduced and mutates back and forth for the first four minutes, and a second, darker theme supplants it for the final minute. (This bit is in Dsus2 if anyone's interested :-) The guitars are mixed low -very low in the middle part of the song- which is probably a good thing, with the synths developing and changing, and rhythms emerging and subsuming throughout. This is undoubtedly the most optimisitic sounding track on the CD.
The big showcase track, though, is Dark Jedi, a retelling or interpretation of part of the Star Wars legend, in a most un-Hollywood way. The opening movement is a nightmare of 90's heavy metal guitars, swirling echoed vocals and another piece of tight punchy drum programming, and is called The story of Jedi Knights. The remaining movements are: (2.) Anakin on Tatooine; (3.) The war began; (4.) On Coruscant with Palpatine; (5.) Anakin's thoughts - to the dark side; (6.) Dark Reign; and (7.) Empire.
Arjen's influence is perhaps strongest on this track, as it moves away from the Space Mirrors template of icy menace, to a more baroque brand of hyperanxiety, although some more pastoral moments are mixed in with a bit of acoustic guitar amid On Coruscant with Palpatine. As always on this CD, there is real expertise in the way that the next theme is woven seamlessly into the current one, although my favourite movement here is the triumphal guitar-dominated Dark Reign, especially as you know it's going to flip through 90 degrees to something completely different for Empire: and it does, bringing the album to a very satisfying close...
This is not entirely my cup of tea, being darker and fiercer than the stuff I normally listen to, but for many listeners, this is going to be a tour de force. You can hear sound samples at the Space Mirrors website, so I suggest you have a listen, and if you like what you hear, buy it from CD Services or other space rock outlets!
Starfarer website's review courtesy of Steve Youles, who overdoes the dark & metallic angles a bit, but really gets inside the thing.

Space Mirrors, the project of Russian musical artist Alisa Coral, serves as my introduction to space music. Having never listened to this style of music before, I was first caught off guard. My initial reaction to it was that it sounded like great mood music . . . I just wasn't sure if I had a mood in my repertoire to associate with it. But I played it in the background while working at my computer a couple times, then spent a subdued evening with it in headphones, and while I am not ready to trade in my Iron Maiden records yet in favor of Hawkwind, it seems like I am going to have to begin carving out some shelf space for another budding interest in a previously undiscovered musical style.
First a little background on Space Mirrors. This recording is truly an international collaboration, with Space Mirrors "the band" really only consisting of the previously mentioned Alisa Coral, joined by Australian Michael Blackman. The internet and the postal service enabled the talents and contributions of Arjen Lucassen (Netherlands) and Steve Youles (USA) to be programmed into the mix. This project took a couple years to pull off, and the attention to detail shows, from the quality of the recording on through to the artwork and packaging (featuring the talents of Jim Lascko of Strange Trips). The entire presentation is focused -- the imagery and art go hand in hand with the mood evoked by the music, and I am very enthusiastic about the attention paid to pulling that off. I wish more bands would give so much thought to their total presentation! If nothing else, it seems Space Mirrors has done a fantastic job in making the statement clear that they wish to make, and spared no effort in doing so. The result is, as the promo says, a mix of driving space rock and cosmic excursions that will have a guaranteed appeal to fans of Hawkwind, Osric Tentacles, Star One and beyond. As cool as it is, though, the spacey art doesn't play a part when the lights are out, your eyes are closed and the headphones are cranked up, so it ultimately comes back to the music. . . .
The opening cut, "Portal Spell," sets the tone. Built on waves of synth, with some guitar and spoken words in the mix, if this track doesn't pique your interest you best set the record aside for something else, for while the songs have some variety, this track does lay the foundation for what is to come. "At the Crossroads of Worlds" picks up where "Portal" leaves off, only upping the ante with some punishing guitar deep in the mix that would be at home up front on any straight industrial metal album.
Track 3, "A Trip Through Inner Space," opens once again with more synth, only this time every bit as mournful as it is cosmic. It reminds me of hours spent lying on the floor of the theater at the Seattle Center where they would show the trippy laser light shows, surrounded by the smell of booze and weed from the other ne'er-do-wells tripping on the action. The song certainly carries a mood made all-the-stronger when experienced in the dark with headphones on. Space Travel, whether intergalactic or within your own mind, is a lonely road . . . and this track serves as a perfect soundtrack to that journey.
In a nutshell, really, a journey is the theme of the entire record. These are not songs so much as soundscapes that the listener must traverse. It is a unique listen for me, having not spent any time previously with this style of music. At times I wish for some different appoach to the mix (the main guitar riff in "It's Cold Today in Underworld" would sound absolutely crushing pumped up with a little more rhythm section thunder to support it), but that is just my more typical metal background dictating to my ears what they would like to hear. Same with the centerpiece track, "Dark Jedi," a spin on the fall and rise of some guy named Darth Vader. A bit heavier approach to the production would really ratchet these songs up a few notches -- the punishing drive of Ministry's "Just One Fix" comes to mind. A little more clarity in the vocals would be nice too, though the booklet has the lyrics printed to follow along with.
In the end, my "What the fuck?" initial reaction was won over to one of definite interest, and an artist really can't ask more of their music than that, can they? I have had plenty of rock acts roll across my ears that sounded pretty cool right off the bat, but were quickly forgotten. Space Mirrors, on the other hand, with each listen has me wondering what I've missed in this genre. In addition, I am quite intrigued to hear what is next. The band is looking to form a live lineup, something I would love to see and hear -- my imagination gets fired up with the possibilities for what a live show in this discipline could be like. In addition, the next album is in the works already, which will be a concept album based on Michael Moorcock's Corum series. Now I dig Star Wars like everyone else, but when you start talking Moorcock's Eternal Champion, then you REALLY have my attention! I am looking forward to Alisa's musical take on this great story. . . .
Reviewed on the Hellride Musicwebsite by Chris La Tray May 24, 2004

Il rock fantastico di Alisa e gli Space Mirrors
Dalmazio Frau ci parla di Alisa Coral, di musica e di fantasy Ci sono molteplici sentieri dal colore dei raggi lunari che si snodano come un’eterna danza attraverso numerosi piani dell’Esistenza. Avviene talvolta che percorrendo uno di questi si facciano incontri che arricchiscono la nostra vita. Nei miei viaggi mi è capitato di incontrare uno di quegli errabondi viaggiatori dell’Etere, una musicista russa: Alisa Coral. Alisa è una rara quanto intelligente musicista (tastiere e basso elettrico) che ha fatto sua la lezione di Vangelis e di Robert Calvert con risultati eccellenti. Ha cominciato a suonare quando ha sentito la chitarra di Huw sul disco Live Chronicles degli Hawkwind. Il suo primo album del gruppo di Michael Moorcock. Il cd fu il suo satori e ciò le diede l’idea di creare la sua prima Rock Band.
Negli anni successivi Alisa trascorse il tempo ad ascoltare anche Metal, soprattutto Black Metal e Power, di gruppi come Immortal, Limbonic art, Dimmu Borgir, Blind Guardian e altri, ma soprattutto ebbe l’influenza musicale dello Space Rock dei Pressurehed a degli Anubian Lights. Continuando nel contempo a studiare sempre meglio basso e tastiere.
Le sue preferenze nella letteratura fantastica vanno a Roger Zelazny, Frank Herbert, Michael Moorcock e George Martin ma anche su altri campi quali le leggende e gli studi di civiltà perdute e misteriose.
Il suo primo cd Neutron Star appare subito come una combinazione dei primi Tangerine (vogliamo ricordare la loro stupenda colonna sonora per il film La Fortezza) e dello stesso Vangelis, con un sound quasi scultoreo.
Si sente fortemente il lascito di Tim Blake e di Harvey Baindridge in tutta l’opera. Un secondo album vede la collaborazione di Alisa con Michael Blackman, chitarrista australiano, per creare sonorità decisamente orientate sullo Space Rock con alte immissioni di metal e rock progressivo.
Nasce così il progetto “Space Mirrors” e il titolo dell’album è The Darker Side of Art. Il cd apre con Portal Spell, preludio al viaggio di tastiere e chitarre che spalancano i portali dell’infinito, segue Space Ritual con atmosfere più dark che vanno sempre a fumare nell’acidità psichedelica per confluire nella traccia At the Crossroads of Worlds dove un’aliena follia di sintetizzatori, effetti e narrazione si ricurva su un impulso ritmico di grande rock gestito sulle sei corde. L’influsso del Moorcock musicista degli Hawkwind è sempre più visibile. A Trip Through Inner Space ci riporta all’idea dello Spazio Interno tanto cara agli scrittori della New Wave e di New Worlds: Ballard in primis. Your soul’s been sold è un successivo omaggio al periodo, seppur progredendo in diversa direzione (ma come si sa le vie del Multiverso sono infinite) con un'eccellente tessitura melodica: la ritmica più pesante continua con il brano seguente Pale Ghosts, intensissimo seppur più agile del precedente.
L’aggiunta al gruppo del “progressive rocker” Arjen Lucassen dall’Olanda, con le sue chitarre e la voce porta a “It’s Cold Today in Underworld”, aggiungendo un alto grado di ottani metal alla musica. E così via attraverso brani come Black Dragon in pieno trip fantasy fino al crescendo epico del gran finale di Dark Jedi: un momento di alta sinfonia che squarcia la trama del cosmo.
Alisa definisce quest’opera “Infernal Apocalyptic Space Rock”, con un sorriso che di infernale ha ben poco. La copertina del disco è opera di Jim “Finity” Lascko.
Altri album di Alisa sono Astral Shift, SynchroniCity e Frozen Fields - Fimbulwinter, dove quest’ultimo è ancora un viaggio sperimentale e tenebroso attraverso le note del synth. Attualmente un nuovo lavoro degli Space Mirrors è in fase di registrazione ed è intitolato Memories of the Future, con un maggior orientamento verso il vocale rispetto ai precedenti. In anteprima assoluta invece possiamo anticiparvi il successivo cd che invece sarà un “concept album” interamente incentrato sulla figura di Corum, il Principe dalla Veste Scarlatta di Michael Moorcock.
Se l’età aurea della psichedelica fu quella di mitici gruppi come gli Hawkwind, i Blue Oyster Cult o i Tangerine Dream, i nostri giorni vedono dunque un rinnovato interesse, in crescita costante, nei confronti delle tematiche fantastiche anche in campo musicale. Ben lontani da banali prodotti commerciali, molti musicisti suonano e compongono ancora la musica di Nuovi Mondi. Mondi che ci attendono sui Mari del Fato in compagnia di Alisa e degli Space Mirrors.
Reviewed by Dalmazio Frau - Data: 21 giugno 2004 and I've completely forgotten where it's featured - remind me someone......

Also mal ganz ehrlich; Diese ist eine klasse spacerock-album! Es is nichts, was man nicht schon mal gehort hatte. Ganz nomaler spacerock eben, ohne irgendweichen Schnickschnack, aber eben hervorragend gemacht, mit viel Elan, mit viel Kosmischer Energie. (Was immer das auch ist). Die tracks dusen im Sauseschrittmitten durchs Weltall und nehmen uns mit auf ihren Himmelscritt. Hier ist nichts nachdenklich, sondern einfach mit Uberlichtgeschwindigkeit schnurstracks geradeaus. Monde, Planeten und Sonnen werden links liegen gelassen. Space Mirrors ist im Wesentlichen das projekt von Alisa Coral und Micheal Blackman, die zuvor schon in weniger erfolgreichen Electronic- und Spacerockprojekten spielten, nun aber mit Arjen "Ayreon" Lucassen einen prominten Mitstreiter fur zwei tracks gewinnen konnten und machtig drauflos rocken. Das wird schon mal die Grenze zum Stonerrock uberschritten., die vielen synthies aber halten die Steine permanent am Fliegen. Neben den atmosphraischen, atherischen Tracks (z.B. der Opener "Portal Spell" oder "A Trip Through Inner Space") ragen die von machtigen. Gitarrenriffs gepragten Stucke wie etwa "At the crossroads of worlds" oder "Pale Ghosts" und besonders das abschlieBende "Dark Jedi" heraus. Freunde von Hawkwind werden an dieser keineswegs dunklen Seite der Kunst ihre Laune erhellen konnen.
Review by BSV (whoever BSV is) from Issue 64 of Germany's excellent Eclipsed magazine, the issue featuring an interview with Alisa of Space Mirrors, this review, a Dead Earnest advert for Space Mirrors and a track from the Space Mirrors album on the free CD that comes with it!!

The term spacerock has been used quite a lot over the last few years. Indeed, our good mate Jerry Kranitz has a magazine almost dedicated to the ever expanding musical universe of this art form. It's difficult for reviewers without naming Hawkwind, for lest we forget, it was these guys who started it all. Dead Ernest is a label that's released only a few albums, and whilst they have diversified, Space Mirrors are firmly entrenched in the space rock camp. And what a cracker! It seems that a lot of the new breed of spacerockers take what I reckon to be the best sounds of Hawkwind, and concentrate on it. There's eight tracks here, all chunky buggers, but what I especially enjoyed about this cd was the plain and simple fact that ambient plays just as an important role as rock. Tracks such as Portal Spell, Pale Ghosts, Black Dragon and Dark Jedi have all the right imagery, atmosphere and downright balls to the wall riffing that keeps the space rock flame burning ever so brightly. A gem.
Review courtesy of David Hughes in Modern Dance iss 48 (UK)

Kijk, dat begint goed spacevrienden, het eerste nummer Portal Spell zit vol met van die bekende spacegeluiden en dreigende synthklanken. Hellaas gebeurter verder helemaal niets in dit nummer, dus snei narr de volgende gezapt. Nondeju, in At The Croosroads Of Worlds lijkt Hawkwindop drugs (sorry, da's dubbelop) druk bezig te zijn het heelal te verbouwen door Lemmy erop in te laten beuken, hoofdpijn! A Trip Through Inner Space zou niet misstaan op een dark ambient EM-release. Zo gaat het verder, aardige nummers (met een donkere ondertoon die zwaar wegluistert), maar tegelijkertijd niet superspannend zijn. In het laatste nummer Dark Jedi komt onze vriend Arjen "Ayreon" Lucassen om de hoekkijken, om een flink potje mee te komen raggen, het lijkt bij tijd en wijle Zakk Wylde wei (u weet wel, van Ozzy Osbourne-fame), lekkere solo's trouwens. Ongelofelijk vermoeiend en zwaar op de maag liggend, deze CD. Dat jullie trouwe spacerockrecensent dit ooit zou schrijven, dat hadden jullie niet verwacht, he spacevrienden? Meer info: www.spacemirrors.com
Andre de Waal for iO Pages Nr 53.

Infernal Apocalyptic Space Rock. This is a very suitable description for the Space Mirrors project by the Russian Alisa Coral herself. Also involved is Michael Blackman from Australia (Alien Dream) on guitar, and guests are Arjen Anthony Lucassen from Netherlands (guitars, narration, known from Ayreon and Star One, for example) and Steve Youles from the USA (acoustic guitar and guitar solos on one track). Alisa handles the keyboards, synths, vocals and drums by herself. She has listened to and played different kinds of music during the years: metal, space rock, ambient and noise, and you can hear that. Previously she has released a few albums with a couple of her other projects, but this is the first release by Space Mirrors.
The music of this project is very much in the Hawkwind vein, but the guitars are usually even heavier. A large part of the album is actually metal. The synthetic space sounds going all over the place are very typical for the album and make it a very psychedelic experience. There are many even frightening elements on the album. You can sense the ancient demons from some other dimension planning to take over our world. A bit of cacophony and restlessness is in the air, and this makes me somewhat nervous. There are, thank God, also some more peaceful and relaxed parts with synths and acoustic guitars. The music is mostly instrumental, but there are also some vocals or narration on most of the songs.
The track "Dark Jedi" is, you guessed it, about the Star Wars movies, and other tracks include "At the Crossroads of Worlds", "A Trip Through Innerspace" and "Pale Ghosts". The weakest link on the album are the programmed drums who just don't give the necessary kick. There's nothing else to complain about, and every fan of heavy space rock should get this great, atmospheric CD. Special thanks for Jim Lascko (www.strange-trips.com) for the great cover art!
Santeri Laakso for PSYCHOTROPIC webzine

SPACE MIRRORS: The Darker Side of Art (CD on Dead Earnest Records)
This release from 2005 features 54 minutes of eerie space music. Space Mirrors is: Alisa Coral and Michael Blackman, with special appearances by Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Steve Youles.
Space Mirrors’ brand of space rock mixes glutinous doses of mysticism into the cacophonic displays of hard science, prying back a subconscious trapdoor to peer into the underworld.
Lots of guitars here: grinding guitars, squealing guitars, slide guitars, soothing guitars, ricocheting guitars--all working hard to captivate the audience. Their riffs twirl and bounce on the wind, operating in conjunction with a slithery bevy of synthesizers. Their intent? To mesmerize and seduce. To burrow their trancey melodies into the mind and carve out some cranial space to dwell.
Those melodies are laced with arcane lore. Haunting passages flitter and drift, riding air currents like ephemeral shrouds. The harmonics ripple. The rhythms pulsate. The electronics keep these cerements aloft with their delicate twinkling. Percussives swim amidst this engaging volume, imparting sultry tempos that often lurk from a submerged vantage, cocooned but unmuffled by the swarming electronic milieu.
To be fair, the electronics are as abundant in this music as the guitars. Shuddering walls of ghostly sound are generated and let loose to wander the stage like animated bundles of vapor. Periodically, female vocals emerge in the distance, swaddled in the electronic morass, establishing a safety zone among the darkling music.
Behind a mask of space rock, this music explores a purer form of trance tinged with the occult. MATT HOWARTH (artiste extraordinaire) for SONIC CURIOSITY online webzine