Zatokrev | Bring Mirrors To The Surface | Pelagic Records

 

Release Date: 29 August 2025

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl

Genre: Atmospheric Sludge/Doom/Post-Metal

Country: Switzerland

Zatokrev has long been known as explorers of the human spirit, always digging into the hidden caves of the mind and dragging something raw, ancient, and hypnotic back into sound. Formed in 2002 in Basel, the band carved its way into the underground with releases that never sat still, each one expanding into new sonic territory. Their music is less about genre cages and more about a river of sound that surges through sludge, doom, psychedelia, post-metal and something entirely their own. Over the years, they’ve worked with labels like Candlelight, Czar Of Crickets, and Pelagic Records, constantly refining their path toward heavier spiritual dimensions. Collaborations with bands such as Minsk and splits with fellow travelers showed how much Zatokrev thrives in shared artistic spaces, always ready to absorb and transform.

Now in 2025, they return with "Bring Mirrors To The Surface", an album that’s like a vision quest made audible. The album is filled with voices and energies from outside the core band, with guest contributions from Bölzer, Schammasch, Inezona, Manuel Gagneux of Zeal & Ardor, and Minsk. These additions don’t fragment the sound, they extend the horizon, as if Zatokrev opened their temple doors and invited different spirits to add their own fire to the ritual.

Across eight songs, the band stretch time and space, moving from vast dirges into eruptions of cathartic violence and passages where sound turns meditative. "Red Storm" is a towering opener, almost ten minutes of trance-inducing repetition and cosmic weight, joined by the feral presence of Bölzer and Schammasch. "Blood" and "The Only Voice" show how Zatokrev balances heaviness with passages that shimmer in strange beauty, while "Unwinding Spirits" takes on an almost spiritual intensity with Manuel Gagneux’s distinctive touch. "Faint" and "Pearl Eyes" break the intensity into sharper fragments, granting intervals of calm before plunging back into longer, world-building compositions like "Deep Dark Turns Green".

The production captures the vastness of the band’s sound, giving equal space to rumbling basslines, tortured riffs, cavernous drums, and voices that sound more like incantations than simple vocals. It is heavy, yes, but not in the sense of crushing weight alone. It is heavy because it resonates like a ritual, something ancient unearthed and translated into modern amplifiers.

"Bring Mirrors To The Surface" is like the culmination of the band’s journey so far, gathering all the paths they have walked, sludge, doom, post-metal, psychedelia, ritualistic experimentation, and presenting them as one great offering. There is a sense of finality in its atmosphere, as if the band have reached a summit and are calling down visions from a higher peak. This album reads like scripture written in distortion and echoed through mountains. For fans of Neurosis, YOB, or Ufomammut, it is a must, but Zatokrev’s voice is their own, and "Bring Mirrors To The Surface" proves that their journey is far from over.

Score: 7.0

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