Shortly after uploading the DARKSTARR-review it struck me that the line about it being the rarest vinyl I've ever found in Sweden wasn't quite true. I'm pretty sure this LP tops it. CRACKED MIRROR seem to be one of the most sought-after NWOBHM-LPs in existence, pretty much on the same level as VOLTZ, CLIENTELLE and WARRIÖR - possibly even the rarest of the bunch. Typically, you have to be a totally uncritical NWOBHM-lunatic of "hey-that-2nd-JAGUAR-LP-ain't-half-bad-once-you-give-it-a-few-spins"-proportions to call this "seminal!" or "classic!". The fact is, noone would give a flying FUCK about this album if it had been released a couple of thousand miles east, north, south or west from whatever part of ol' England's Green it originated from. First of all there isn't an ounce of a hint of "Metal" on it and definitely nothing even resembling prog as some rumors have suggested. It barely qualifies as a hard rock record and that's solely thanx to the style of songwriting on a few places and not the actual sound. Not that it's an extremely bad rock record, it's just very common, homespun material. First and foremost it's the really weak guitar sound that holds the music back. It's way too low the mix and most of the songs seem to rely on the hammond leads rather than the Mighty Six-stringed Axe of Metal. Diehard fans of the later RAINBOW albums might get something out of this a.o.r./westcoast/boogie stuff, but apart from some decent choruses on "Bomb Blast" and "On Fire" there's absolutely nothing here for the average Metal or NWOBHM fan.
It suddenly struck me how absurd it is that just because someone somewhere mentioned this album in the same sentence as "nwobhm", I now have to listen through this mediocrity more than twice, and then spend an hour of my valuable time writing about it, just to set the record straight. I'm the bloody martyr of truth I am....