Brooding and mysterious are the two key words I search on dating websites and the same can be said when I'm looking for new music to sink my teeth into. This generally seems to fair pretty well as whatever result I get works perfectly in my dungeon. So with great joy am I introduced to WARNUNGSTRAUM, the brainchild of Bartlett

Green and his is a brain that I would gladly crawl into and die.  Mirror Waters is the third offering from WARNUNGSTRAUM and it continues in the same vein as his previous works with lashings of foreboding and dread layered with mystical imagery and a little drizzle of the magical.  This may seem like a familiar recipe but as much as this is attempted by so many Ambient/Atmospheric Black Metal bands, it is rare to see or hear it done well.

The album opens up with "Antarabhava" the song title refers to the state between death and rebirth and it resonates with this concept through a wonderful use of strangely juxtaposed chords and scales. These mesh beautifully with Bartlett's haunting vocal presence to build a sound with real depth behind it. The use of synthesizers behind the guitars accentuates this as well and, well the whole song is an incredible journey through the stages of the afterlife.

The rest of the album is littered with this same richness of history and references to mythological concepts about life and death.  In "Narkissos", the despair of the titular Greek character for whom Narcissism is named can be heard echoing through the desolate tones and bleak melodies.

Closing with "The Sad Singing Woods" the album ends on perhaps the most mythological timbre as the imagery of nymphs and sprites is conjured up and you could be easily taken back into medieval ages where creatures like this were all over the place. All in all, this is a truly fantastic album and one that should become an instant favorite for anyone that already has a taste for this kind of music. For anyone that has yet to  experience it, this is probably the best place to start as it doesn't have any of the trappings of the bands that are trying too hard to be mystical.