Recorded during the summer of 2005 with the help of Nefelheim and Daniela Gherardi, "Reflections On Black" is Hall of Mirrors' first album: a dark transmission from the hearts and minds of Amon and Nimh.

Instruments used to make these sounds were constant companions of the artists for days-on-end. This document utilizes an immense range of synthesizers and obscure electronic equipment. Complex compositions created with various sequencers, backing tapes, field recordings, electric guitar, and masterful audio processing techniques, combined with expert assembly (mixing/digital editing).

With "Reflections On Black", Amon and Nimh redefine the dark ambient genre. A definite buy for fans of Lustmord and darker/gothic atmosphere. Isolationistic music for midnight rituals. Post-millennium soundscapes. Intensely foreboding... Like watching storm clouds gather on a late summer night. Darkest beauty personified.

(label press release)

Published by Silentes Minimal Editions, sme 0713
store.silentes.it
______________________________________________________________


"After the mammoth Amon/Nimh CD on Eibon, Andrea Marutti and Giuseppe Verticchio are back with a collaborative project, which will feature different guests with every release (this time, they are Giulio Baggi/Nefelheim at synths and guitar and Daniela Gherardi at synth and voice). Since it's impossible not to use "Sator" as a reference, I'll start by saying that "Reflections on Black" obviously shares most of its characteristics, but is also looser, more varied and at times unpredictable. There's a feel of jamming that in the above mentioned work was hidden by the monolithic construction of the pieces. In "Entrance", the deep cavernous drones, dotted by electric bursts, give way to a half-buried string plucking, introducing a more melancholic passage, eventually overshadowed by a brooding distorted wall. "Descent" begins with suffocating wind gusts, but a layering of frequencies, upbeat rhythms and higher tones slowly changes the atmosphere from oppressive to cosmic, leading to a second part occupied by a liquid drone. "Transmutation" and "Recovery" stray even further from plain dark ambient territories, the former featuring warm waves of synths and guitar feedback, the latter with Verticchio lingering on depressive guitar picking, accompanied by some weird crackling noises (treated vocals, maybe?)."

Eugenio Maggi, Chain D.L.K., October 2007

______________________________________________________________


"Hall of Mirrors is a new musical project formed by Giuseppe Verticchio (Nimh) and Andrea Marutti (Amon). The music is in the similar vein to the respective works from these two italian artists. Consequently it provides a handful of dense, droney, shimmering electronic sequences that dissipate into distortion and black noises. The atmosphere is truly hypnotic and dreamy, sometimes offering subtle, fragile minimalist melodic fragments for e-guitar. "Entrance" opens this mesmerising dark epic voyage with a playful, foggy and melancholic composition dominated by echoing guitar parts and fuzzy abrasive noises. Everything is floating into a deep space. "Descent" is an organic, tripped out industrial effervescence with cloudy, menacing continuous sound forms, guitar distortion that progressively turn into a moody electronic melancholia with a really absorbing atmosphere. "Transmutation" is an enigmatic, super abstract meditative piece built on an ocean of weird drones and noises. "Recovery" closes the album with a magnificant, plaintive, delicate guitar piece that transport the listener to some other place. Quite lovely and mysteriously invocative. This album must be regarded as a little classic in the serie of damaged, dreamy, emotional dronescapes. Highly recommend for fans of black minimal electronic epics of Organum, Andrew Chalk, Maurizio Bianchi. Anyone else can also have a listening because this album contain some of the most beautiful, expressive drones ever created in the last couple of years."

Phillipe Blache, Prog Archives, March 2008

______________________________________________________________


[...] One of Verticchio's long-time friends and colleagues is Andrea Marutti, head of the Afe imprint and a prolific force in his own right. Even though contact was established as far back as 2002, when "Frozen", originally a privately distributed work, was absorbed into the Afe catalogue, it took the duo until last year's "Sator" to finally collude musically. That album, however, extended well beyond a friendly exchange of handshakes characteristic of most multi-member projects, and demanded a follow-up. It came in the form of "Reflections On Black" released under the alias of Hall of Mirrors, for which Verticchio and Marutti were joined by Giulio Biaggi and Daniela Gherardi on synthesizers, guitar and voice, turning this into an Italian Sound Art Supergroup. In many respects, the album picks up on similar themes as "Sator": the encounter between opaque drones and a clear harmonic language, between recognisable melodic patterns and haunting industrial depth as well as between moments of quiet beauty and stark noise is still recognisable and pieces still take a lot of time to develop: "Entrance", "Transmutation" and "Descent" are all entwined around the fifteen-minute mark, allowing for full immersion. On the other hand, "Reflections On Black" walks even more dauntingly on the verge of a clear-cut cross-over experiment. On "Descent", glassy chords are mirrored by frosty clouds of convoluted tones, misleading the listener into a sensation of false safety, while "Transmutation" allows its romantic progressions to gradually merge with the fields of grey surrounding them. On final track "Recovery", Verticchio plays plaintive broken chords on his mournful guitar, closing the album with a wordless ballad. Again and again, he seems to falter, gaping holes opening up in the song's texture, but he keeps returning, turning the composition into a fatalistic mantra of stumbling on without sense of direction or reason. Only finely rustling noises remain at the end – the journey over, the heart bleeding. [...]

Tobias Fischer, Tokafi, October 2008

______________________________________________________________