German traditional doom outfit Mirror of Deception were formed in 1990 but had to battle for nearly a decade, performing small-time shows and releasing a handful of demos, before escaping utter obscurity with their self-released 1997 EP, Veil of Lead. This at last helped drum up some interest for the group, which was comprised, at the time, of vocalist Markus Baumhauer, guitarists Michael Siffermann and Jochen Fopp, bassist Klaus Schmidt, and drummer Gunnar Drescher, and signed with the Miskatonic label for the release of its debut full-length, Mirrorsoil, in 2001. Mirror of Deception then embarked on tours of Europe and England with bands like Solstice and Warning, but singer Baumhauer decided to leave the band in 2002, handing the reins to guitarist Siffermann, who stepped up for the first time on 2003's Conversion EP and hasn't stepped down since. Personnel issues continued to dog the group, however, and a new rhythm section featuring bassist Andreas Taller and drummer Jochen Müller was installed for 2004's sophomore full-length, Foregone. By now, it seemed as though Mirror of Deception's efficient but rather predictable brand of doom simply wasn't capable of taking their career beyond underground thresholds, and that's certainly been confirmed by 2006's widely ignored Shards album and subsequent split EPs with Tefra (2008) and Garden of Worm (2009). ~ Eduardo Rivadavia