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Serious Black's 2014 album As Daylight Breaks was excellent and set the bar pretty high, something their 2016 effort Mirrorworld unfortunately has to contend with. As with its predecessor, Mirrorworld overflows with crisp riffs augmented, but never overshadowed, by keyboards and wonderfully melodic choruses. There are a couple of double-kick blazers to open the record in "As Long as I'm Alive" and "Castor Skies" before the album settles in for a mainly mid-paced tempo, broken only by the speedy "You're Not Alone." Songs like "Heartbroken Soul" and "State of My Despair" exude polish and are very easy on the ears and that may be the aspect of Mirrorworld that puts it just behind As Daylight Breaks. Singer Urban Breed again sounds fantastic as he channels some Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow vocal lines, but Mirrorworld as a whole has more of a "commercial" feel and isn't quite as arresting as the band has shown they can be. Small point but noticeable. Minor complaints aside, Mirrorworld keeps Serious Black at the forefront of the Melodic Power Metal field, and mentioning their name alongside bands like Black Majesty, Serenity and Avantasia is a fair comparison.