Band: Mirror Images
Album: Effigy

Mirror Images, a local Florida band out of Palm Coast, Florida has independently released Effigy, an eight song disc that offers listeners a variety of rock tunes. The band, led by bassist/vocalist Craig 'CT' Thomas, lead guitarist/vocalist Phil Cangialosi (full disclosure: Cangialosi is the brother in law of this critic), rhythm guitarist/vocalist Fred Terry and drummer Jason Mosely are all veteran musicians playing in various bands and different gigs over the years. Recently, they backed up former New York cop and current Palm Coast resident, Eddie Money during some local area performances.

'Effigy' mixes blues with a hard rock edge drawing on what appear to be the personal experiences and thoughts of lyricist, Craig Thomas. Two songs in particular, 'Beserker' and 'Wild Side of Life' were in response to the September 11 attacks. 'Beserker' attempts to get into the head of the terrorists, and has a sound reminiscent of old Judas Priest, in particular, 'Breakin The Law'. 'Wild Side of Life', unlike many of the songs we to come out of the terrorist attacks, such as Paul McCartney's heavy handed 'Freedom', rings up the emotion many felt after the shock and horror subsided: anger. He writes:

"It took us a while to get it through our heads
There are people on this planet that want us dead
So here is a message to you the wicked ones
The war on you has just begun"

Cangialosi sings lead on 'One Again', a throwback to the 'power ballad' days of the late 80's where songs such as Bon Jovi's 'I'll Be There For You' and Poison's 'Every Rose Has It's Thorn' ruled the airwaves. 'Time Warp' is a quirky tune where Thomas conjures up images of Al Capone, 1935 Chevy Bellair's and Cuban cigars.

'4U' is the strongest track musically and contains shades of Santana as well as old Chicago (prior to their descent into syrupy love song hell). Cangialosi plays a dazzling guitar solo, an art that has been lost it seems since the early 90's when Nirvana first did away with it. His influences are prevalent throughout the album, but he also has a style all his own. Meanwhile, Jason Mosely's work on the drums is so good that it practically disappears in the background. To explain further, many drummers feel the need to pound the drums so hard to remind us they are playing. Mosely doesn't do that and it only makes his playing sound that much better.

Listening to Fred Terry do the lead vocals on 'Never No Reason' sparks the question: Why didn't he do more leads? Vocally, he is the strongest in the group and while Thomas's singing (which practically has a storyteller quality to it) works well for songs such as 'Beserker' and 'Wild Side Of Life', Terry would have enhanced other tracks by taking the lead.

The band did an excellent job of crafting these songs and having a somewhat complex composition while being able to keep them short. The longest track, 'One Again' checks in at just over 4 minutes, while most of the others are less than 2.5 minutes. There's no polished sound to any of the tracks. They're pretty raw, and that is a good thing. While many of today's bands attempt to create songs that will appeal to Top 40 radio stations, 'Effigy' just hits the listener with a dose of good old rock and roll.

For more information about the band or to purchase a copy of the CD, please send e-mail to music@the-dailyrant.com