Review by Greg on May 14, 2026.

Can anybody look at this artwork and guess that it's gonna be a one-man band? Everybody, right? Well, Silent Tyrant is bound to be an interesting project nonetheless, being the brainchild of guitarist Caleb Patrick Warren from Pennsylvania. Some of you might remember him for cutting his teeth with thrashers Fatal Agent, which caused some stir here with their nostalgic sound, but didn't really take flight and ended up calling it quits without ever going much further than the demo stage. The dude then started several projects, among which was even a trad/classic heavy one, but this was the one that intrigued me the most, for some reason. Indeed, Silent Tyrant takes its sound from a perennially underappreciated style, that is, late 80s tech thrash. Warren himself mentions influences such as Toxik, Coroner, Watchtower, Heathen, Aspid (Аспид), and all kinds of amenities that make me eager to press the play button and potentially find my new favourite band.

Mirrors of Eternity appears to have had a long gestation, having been originally planned for a 2021 release, but seeing the light of day only in 2024. In this situation, a band usually finds itself in front of a crossroads: keeping rehearsing and improve the same 6 or 7 songs, which I believe was what happened with Fog of War's glorious Here Lies Humanity, or including every new song you write in the meantime. Warren clearly went for the second route, as he brings us 10 tracks of considerable size, plus two interludes, for almost one full hour of music. Do not be intimidated, though, as we're greeted with three excellent songs in a row, following the mandatory soothing acoustic intro. The sound is predictably guitar-centered, and the solos are unusually (for the genre) long and sometimes showoff-y, although it would have been naive to expect otherwise, but really, most riffing has Vetterli written all over it, which is something I do not say lightly. 'Digital Euphoria' in particular manages to score an effective chorus, amidst the frantic pace set by the drums, competently played as well, albeit lacking a bit of dynamics in the long run.

As such, with the obvious disclaimer that Warren is way younger than me and way more talented than I'll ever aspire to become in three whole lives, I'm afraid to say vocals aren't his forte. They are somewhere in between Toxik's first two vocalists, with maybe a sprinkle of Forbidden's Russ Anderson for his, um, anarchic rhythmics, but not really as gifted as them, and sometimes with a tendency to be carried by the guitars (e.g. 'Circle of Fate'). It's not a stretch to say that there isn't really a vocal line standing out, which is certainly a shortcoming for such an 80s-esque effort. Although I can't really fault him for not being the second coming of Midnight (Crimson Glory), I can't help but feel that Mirrors of Eternity would have had a more lasting impact with either a stronger, more charismatic singer (see also Void's Jackson Davenport) or a more ferocious shrieker. Instead, on 'Shattered Illusions', it becomes difficult to even just hear him. 'Illogical Divinity' embodies the whole album in a nutshell: the midtempo part aches for a more commanding presence behind the mic, but when the middle acceleration kicks in, once again the truly incredible riffing wipes out most uncertainties.

The album comes to a watershed with the cool instrumental 'Echoes of the Future', after which feelings of redundancy inevitably start to appear, and I'm of two minds about the total length – if it's true that I can potentially never get tired of this kind of metal, on paper, on the other hand it has a definite blue-balling effect caused by constantly waiting for that 10/10 song that never arrives. Ultimately, closer 'Dimensions' reaches its 7 minutes and a half without changing much, but adding even more solos.

Mirrors of Eternity is a very anachronistic album for sure, although that is naturally not meant as a derogatory term, but to highlight the fact that it's a road rarely traveled, which is something I want to stress, as I thought nobody was interested in making this kind of music anymore. If you can't physically stop thinking about how R.I.P. or World Circus are the peak of human existence, it's reasonable to expect that you might find something you like here. Even if you were disappointed by Dissonance Theory's distinct lack of Punishment for Decadence-ness, this can be a good alternative solution, save for the radically different vocal approach, of course. There's potential for something legendary here, albeit with some needed tweaks.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10