{"id":467685,"date":"2026-06-09T01:57:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/467685\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T01:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:57:16","slug":"mirror-of-my-soul-october-is-rising-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/467685\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirror of My Soul – October Is Rising Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Now\u2014as summer blasts the Earth into a fly-ridden heath\u2014is when I long most for fall. So I get why Patrik Andersson Winberg\u2019s (Dun Ringill, Doomdogs) new solo project Mirror of My Soul would debut this June with October Is Rising. A folk project empowered with hard rock muscle and gothic gravitas, Mirror of My Soul aims for atmospheric storytelling and organic song structuring. Joined by drummers Pete Campbell (Axe Dragger, ex-Pentagram) and Tobbe Strandvik, keyboardist Per Wiberg (Tiamat, ex-Opeth), guitarist Patric Grammann (Dun Ringill) and a whole host of vocalists, October Is Rising is poised to be an introspective, moody, and engrossing trek through rustic moods and colder temps. But is this album autumn\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel, or is there no relief from summer to be found here?<\/p>\n

October Is Rising is a clinic on complementary musicianship. Working within gothic country, folk, and blues rock, October Is Rising lives in slow, sparse compositions that won\u2019t wow listeners with panache. Songs like \u201cA Good Day to Die\u201d and \u201cThe Owl\u201d use simple guitar and banjo parts, respectively, to set the stage for spirited vocal performances, while \u201cOctober Is Rising\u201d and \u201cGrandpa\u201d utilize particularly minimal instrumentation to highlight their singers\u2019 stories. Mirror of My Soul can rip it when necessary, as heard on the Jethro Tullesque flute riffing on \u201cMina Fotavtryck\u201d and the slick hi-hat work on \u201cDancing Slowly on the Porch,\u201d but October Is Rising\u2019s musical prowess lies less in individual performance and more in band dynamics. \u201cLost in the Red Wine\u201d and \u201cThe One Who Sings the Songs\u201d pulse in ways that sneakily build and bounce off their individual parts to sound a lot bigger than their thin instrumentation would imply. Mirror of My Soul is composed of industry veterans, and it sounds like it; these guys bring out the best in each other.<\/p>\n

\ufeffOctober is Rising by Mirror of My Soul<\/a><\/p>\n

Setting rich moods and storytelling are Mirror of My Soul\u2019s game. They\u2019re pros at it. October Is Rising is a pensive autumnal stroll through gloom with the sort of eerie coziness that at varying times reminded me of Fields of the Nephilim, Current 93, and the Over the Garden Wall soundtrack. Soundscapes of pale light and fresh darkness bestow tracks like \u201cThe Painter,\u201d \u201cGrandpa,\u201d and \u201cTree on that Hill\u201d a deeply affecting and melancholic quality, shaped by the aforementioned stark instrumentation and poignant vocals. October Is Rising is littered with pathos-imbued bars delivered with conviction, where phrases as obtuse as \u201cThe bad news was a feather from a dead bird\u201d (\u201cThe Letter\u201d) hit with the sensitivity of straightforward heart-wrenchers like \u201cThe trees showed me how to make it all last. There is no future without a vivid past\u201d (\u201cTree on that Hill\u201d). Mirror of My Soul bring everything you\u2019d want from a singer-songwriter project musically: bittersweet strolls down memory lane, deep into introspection.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

October Is Rising listens like a work of singular vision, but not of one voice. There are no bad singers on October Is Rising, mind you, and the diverse cast can be a boon. There aren\u2019t many records out there that can, in one moment, recall Alice in Chains (\u201cCoyote\u201d) and Peter Gabriel the next (\u201cTree on that Hill\u201d), Lou Reed one minute (\u201cCarry Your Soul\u201d) and Johnny Cash another (\u201cA Good Day to Die\u201d). But this committee approach also deprives October Is Rising of singer-songwriter music\u2019s strongest aspect: the intimate conversation between artist and audience. It\u2019s hard to think of Mirror of My Soul as Winberg\u2019s personal exploration of a gloaming Earth when you have to adjust to a new singer every song. October Is Rising still feels cohesive thanks to Winberg\u2019s consistent and compelling songwriting, but I believe one or two good singers would\u2019ve made the record connect that much better.<\/p>\n

Mirror of My Soul bring the wistfulness of autumn on October Is Rising. Tight musicianship and smart songwriting carry the listener through Winberg\u2019s stories, sometimes outlandish and always engaging. Though I think one singer would\u2019ve made Mirror of My Soul a more focused entity\u2014or perhaps one singer across every song \u00e0 la Tobias Sammet of Avantastia\u2014October Is Rising is nevertheless a greatly enjoyable work that I could confidently recommend to anyone interested in gothic rock\/country\/folk. At the very least, when the upcoming months get hot as balls, it\u2019ll be a good reminder that, in the near future, October Is Rising indeed.<\/p>\n

Rating: Very Good
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: WAV
Label: Majestic Mountain Records<\/a>
Websites: mirrorofmysoul.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/mirrorofmysoul<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: June 12, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now\u2014as summer blasts the Earth into a fly-ridden heath\u2014is when I long most for fall. So I get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2246,837,17485,236645,176646,236646,236647,236648,236649,156,236650,20423,32504,99981,232970,231533,24616,236651,157,111,139,153470,69,236652,9661,45471,236653,762,763,43847,236654],"class_list":["post-467685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-2246","tag-3-5","tag-alice-in-chains","tag-august-is-falling","tag-avantasia","tag-axe-dragger","tag-current-93","tag-doomdogs","tag-dun-ringill","tag-entertainment","tag-fields-of-the-nephilim","tag-folk","tag-jethro-tull","tag-johnny-cash","tag-jun26","tag-lou-reed","tag-majestic-mountain-records","tag-mirror-of-my-soul","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-not-metal","tag-nz","tag-october-is-rising","tag-opeth","tag-pentagram","tag-peter-gabriel","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-swedish-metal","tag-tiamat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}