Slovenian symphonic metallers ShadowIcon are back with their new EP Smoke & Mirrors, which follows on from their debut album Empire In Ruins, but unfortunately it doesn’t quite hit the heights this band is capable of.
Quite simply, there’s nothing about the EP that jumps out and grabs you. It’s a very standard-sounding release and ShadowIcon haven’t quite crafted their own sound; you could put another band name on the EP’s cover and nobody would really be any the wiser, which is quite unfortunate because it just gives the impression that ShadowIcon have made a very safe release and haven’t quite been adventurous enough to try something a little different and put their own unique stamp on the music.
That’s not to say the music is terrible, however. The Edge features some lush instrumentation to start with before progressing into some beautifully smooth vocals that add a lot of atmosphere to the song and then the track builds up and up into this wonderfully triumphant track, which makes for an all-round great listen.
Overall however, it just feels like ShadowIcon can do better – as a whole, it’s just a bit of a lacklustre offering and doesn’t really invoke that strong of a reaction in you. As mentioned earlier, it’s not a bad EP, it just doesn’t have the makings of a great one.
5/10
