Review: Zatokrev – …Bring Mirrors to the Surface

Style: Sludge metal, post-metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Thou, Neurosis, Mastodon
Country: Switzerland
Release date: 29 August 2025

I’ll admit it: sometimes I judge an album by its cover. Well, pre-judge it, at any rate. Given the sheer flood of music out there, not to mention the albums we’re asked to review, I occasionally let the cover art decide what I’ll sample next. So naturally, when I saw the inky black cover of …Bring Mirrors to the Surface—etched with white bioluminescent plant, aquatic, and eldritch life—it grabbed me immediately. It’s exactly the kind of cover that justifies a vinyl hobby, a tactile piece of art that makes the music more an object of worship or ritual than something merely auditory. Additionally, Zatokrev has flown under my radar, and amongst the pile of promos from unfamiliar-to-me acts, …Bring Mirrors to the Surface striking cover helped nudge the release into my claims.

Sonically, Zatokrev create something sounding like ISIS taking an Acid Bath in a grungy tub, delivering slow and swampy, down-tuned and dirty, floorboard-loosening riffs. Vocals chant, growl, and shout at the mire surrounding them. It’s an intriguing sound, but one that—at least in the opening stretch—did not grab me on first listen like the cover art did. “Red Storm” starts the album off with a slow, dour trudge, its rhythmic and melodic repetition stretching across ten minutes that test patience more than they reward it. “Blood” is a bit more adventurous in its first half, slightly quickening the pace and making the guitars and melodies move with a purpose. Unfortunately, the song transforms into what feels like a soft bridge about halfway through, but what we’re actually wandering into is an extended forever outro—a bridge to nowhere that saps momentum instead of building it. These feel like missteps, but mercifully, they’re not the whole story.

Two of the shorter songs on …Bring Mirrors to the Surface outline a sharper template that I think Zatokrev should lean on with greater frequency. “The Only Voice” kicks up the tempo compared to the opening eighteen minutes and is, dare I say, happy for a chunk of its runtime. The lifting melody of those vigorously strummed chords that comprise most of the verse wouldn’t sound out of place on an Astronoid release—just don’t pay attention to the desolate lyrics if you want to keep that vibe going. “Pearl Eyes,” meanwhile, lands like a hammer: face-crumpling, chord-laden riffage meeting mid-tempo stanky groove with a few vocal hooks that pull the whole thing together. At just four minutes, it’s taut, effective, and—unlike a few of the longer tracks—knows when to exit before overstaying its welcome.

Thus is the dichotomy of …Bring Mirrors to the Surface. The shorter pieces that break from the slow and sludgy modes and embrace post-metal are much more appealing than the lengthier, bog-ridden tracks that seem stuck in the muck. “Faint” is a perfect example. Brash and dissonant, it tears forward anxiously and would fit in quite nicely on something like Mastodon’s Leviathan. Like “Pearl Eyes” and “The Only Voice,” it shows how much more compelling Zatokrev can be when they trim the fat and let their riffs gnash. And yet, the irony is that my favorite song on the album is the longest one. Unlike the plodding “Red Storm” or the lost “Unwinding Spirits,” closer “Deep Dark Turns Green” justifies its sprawl. Shifting between introspective moods and carving out space for genuinely beautiful moments, its lead guitar lines lift you up while the transition into the (actual, for real this time) bridge will tug at the heartstrings. Here, Zatokrev prove that length isn’t the problem—it’s focus. Where similarly lengthy tracks from the album quickly come to a standstill, “Deep Dark Turns Green” flows with purpose, carrying you somewhere worth arriving.

Zatokrev weave a silver lining throughout …Bring Mirrors to the Surface in the vocal work. Frontman Frederyk Rotter and bassist/backing vocalist Lucas Löw—along with a bevy of guests—carry much of the album’s appeal. The variety they provide in the voices keeps even the more sluggish passages from becoming completely stale, while making the brilliant moments shine that much brighter. On “Unwinding Spirits,” they bring everything from thunderous, throaty growls to angelic falsettos¹, while “Pearl Eyes” alternates high shouts and lower, almost whispered soft vocals that are sprinkled throughout the song. These wonderful contrasts keep me engaged with the music where I otherwise might give up.

This all brings me back to where I started: the album art. The cover of …Bring Mirrors to the Surface perfectly reflects the music within. The LP is a gloomy, dark voyage with flashes of strange, luminous beauty. Zatokrev mostly succeed in balancing these extremes. At times, you’ll feel as if you’re meandering through a murky, sweltering swamp with no end in sight. But when the slog threatens to overwhelm, a guiding hand lifts you onto solid ground—rewarding patience and lingering long after the final notes fade.

Recommended tracks: Deep Dark Turns Green, The Only Voice, Pearl Eyes
You may also like: Membrane, Völur, Cares, Ufomammut
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: Pelagic Records – Bandcamp | Instagram | Official Website

Zatokrev is:
– David Burger (drums)
– Steffen Kunkel (guitars)
– Lucas Löw (bass, backing vocals)
– Frederyk Rotter (vocals, guitars)
With guests:
– Okoi Jones of Bölzer
– Inezona
– Michael Gagneux of Zeal & Ardor
– Christopher Bennett, Zachary Livingston, Aaron Austin of Minsk
– Christopher Ruf, also known as CSR or Schammasch

1. Some of the credit here should go to Manuel Gagneux from Zeal & Ardor, who lends guest vocals to the track. ↩︎