Black Mirrors – Funky Queen

By RingMaster Review on March 3, 2017 • ( 1 )

BW, Black Mirrors, Belgium, Music, c Nanna Dis 2016

Every loud acclaim loaded whisper and incessant buzz needs something to back it up and that is exactly what Belgian rockers Black Mirrors do with their debut EP. The Brussels hailing quartet is one of the keenest new names on more and more keenly crowing lips and Funky Queen offers plenty of reasons why.

There is little we can give as background to the band but with their music doing all the talking on their Napalm Records released first EP, additional details can wait. The Black Mirrors sound is a myriad of flavours; at times it is bluesy and punky, in other moments a mix of grungy stoner and psych/heavy rock imagination, more often a blend and varying combination of all and more; a varying web easy to hear in just the four songs within Funky Queen alone. Imagine a boiling pot of essences from the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age, My Baby, Soundgarden, Janis Joplin, Jess and The Ancients Ones, and Led Zeppelin and you get a sense of the fevered sound seducing and rousing ears.

Funky Queen opens with its title track making first contact with gnarly riffs and controlled pounding beats contrasted by fuzz gifted harmonies. Swiftly a driving spine of swinging rhythms and grumbling grooves court the alluring tones of vocalist Marcella Di Troia, her magnetic presence and prowess matched by the infectious throes of the sounds around her. There is nothing to stop hips swerving and feet shuffling in league with the virulence, the track’s fusion of desert and blues rock almost tribal in its catchiness.

707_blackmirrors_cmyk_RingMasterReview It is a stunning track awakening ears and appetite with lusty zeal and setting them up for the garage rock and blues punk revelry of Kick Out The Jam. Winding around the dark bait of Gino Caponi’s bassline, the grooves and melodic flames from Pierre Lateur’s guitar sizzle as the sticks of drummer Nicolas Scalliet land with relish. Di Troia again stands vocally astride it all with commanding dexterity and vocal zeal, a union of enterprise in spirit raising rock ‘n’ roll providing a striking cover of the MC5 classic.

Actually it is four such escapades on offer, The Mess just as persuasive as it ventures on a slower more controlled stroll soaked in anthemic temptation and sultry melodic juices. Like a siren, the song draws ears and emotions in but the rewards are invigorating not dangerous, except to swinging hips quickly involved in the fiery seduction.

Canard Vengeur Masqué brings things to a invasively captivating close, the song also reserved in its gait but eager in its sonic and melodic tempting with Di Troia a seductress to sound and listener as rhythms twist and turn around glowing grooves and hooks keen to infest the psyche. There is a touch of the now demised British band Karn8 to the song and of the aforementioned My Baby too, but Black Mirrors for the fourth time in the EP stand individual and irresistible in ears and praise.

The Funky Queen EP is quite superb and will only accentuate the band’s already heady reputation while drawing a horde of newcomers to the bold seduction that is Black Mirrors.

Funky Queen is released March 3^rd via Napalm Records across most stores.

Upcoming Live Dates:

07.03.2017 TU – Ankara / ODTÜ

06.04.2017 BE – Antwerp / Trix

w/ Horisont

16.03.17 DE – Hamburg / Logo

17.03.17 DE – Siegen / Vortex

18.03.17 DE – Düsseldorf / Pitcher

23.03.17 DE – Munich / Backstage

25.03.17 CH – Pratteln / Z7

26.03.17 AT – Vienna / Das Bach

27.03.17 AT – Salzburg / Rockhouse