Mirrorthrone is a one-man metal band from Switzerland, consisting of multi-instrumentalist Vladimir Cochet. The exact genre of the band is difficult to pinpoint, but it has elements of Avant-Garde Metal, Progressive Metal, and symphonic Black Metal. To date it has released three albums, which have received a considerable amount of praise in the metal underground. The band's best known song by far is "So Frail", which was featured in Brütal Legend.
Cochet has also released music through two other projects, the blackened Death Metal act Weeping Birth and the progressive black metal project Unholy Matrimony. Each of these has also released three albums.
Mirrorthrone albums
- Of Wind and Weeping (2003)
- Carriers of Dust (2006)
- Gangrene (2008)
Unholy Matrimony albums
- Love & Death (2002)
- Misologie (2003)
- Croire, décroître (2009)
Weeping Birth albums
- A Painting of Raven and Rape (2003)
- Anosognosic Industry of the I (2008)
- The Crushed Harmony (2015)
Tropes applicable to Mirrorthrone and related projects:
- Anti-Love Song: Weeping Birth and Unholy Matrimony both have quite a few of these.
- Bilingual Bonus: Quite a few songs are in French and a few are in German. Others mix and match languages. Given that Cochet is Swiss, this probably won't come as a surprise.
- Call-Back: The Subdued Section of "Ils brandiront leurs idoles" reprises some melodic elements of "Hymne à la mort d'Iseut".
- Capitalism Is Bad: The primary theme of "The Fecal Rebellion", with a side dose of Humans Are Bastards.
- Concept Album: Love & Death was apparently inspired by a relationship Cochet had that didn't end well, and is a Whole-Plot Reference to Tristan and Iseult, to which it explicitly refers several times.
- Cover Version: Weeping Birth contributed covers of Godflesh's "Like Rats" and Bolt Thrower's "For Victory" to tribute albums.
- Despair Event Horizon: Several songs are about this, including "Une Existence dont plus personne ne jouit".
- Epic Rocking: Hell yes. The best example is "Ils brandiront leurs idoles", which runs for 22:10, but most of Mirrorthrone's songs top the six minute mark with ease, and quite a few Unholy Matrimony and Weeping Birth songs do likewise.
- Fading into the Next Song / Siamese Twin Songs: A lot of his albums do this. In particular, Misologie, Croire, décoître, and Gangrene are entirely gapless. Cochet's only albums that don't have any gapless transitions between tracks are the first two Mirrorthrone albums.
- I Am the Band: "One-man band" subcategory. There are occasionally guest vocalists, but that's pretty much it.
- Instrumental: "Of Wind and Weeping", "Le Philtre", "Hymne à la mort d'Iseut".
- Intentionally Awkward Title: Several. Most of them are Weeping Birth songs, though Mirrorthrone does have "The Fecal Rebellion".
- Loudness War: Most albums fall into this somewhat, although some are worse than others. Anosognosic Industry of the I seems to have gotten the worst of it.
- Religion Rant Song: "Der Schrecklichste auf der Welt", "Tu ne croiras pas", "Ils brandiront leurs idoles"...
- Shout-Out: "The Fecal Rebellion" opens with what is almost certainly a reference to Darkthrone's A Blaze in the Northern Sky:"What is this strange blaze in the Western sky,
Confusingly recalling an endless cry,
Echoing weakly throughout the horizon,
Flying blindly to a hazardous destination?" - Soprano and Gravel: As expected, the primary vocal style on most of his releases is shrieked/growled, but Cochet uses plenty of clean singing on several of his albums as well. The best example may be "A Scream to Express the Hate of a Race", which features a superb a cappella break. Of Wind and Weeping also features occasional female vocals.
- Straw Nihilist: "A Scream to Express the Hate of a Race" is, per
Word of God, a commentary on nihilism and misanthropy. - Subdued Section: Mirrorthrone uses these a lot. Unholy Matrimony and to a lesser extent Weeping Birth use them occasionally as well.
