16th May 2025

Review: “Mistake” by Refiner

Back in February Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, lyricist, producer and engineer Christopher Adam joined Rottweiler Records with his solo project Refiner. A promise was made of a pair of EPs and a full length album all to be released in 2025 via the label, something which seemed like an impossible task at the time but you know what they say. Anything is possible in the fullness of time, given the energy, momentum and an all powerful mind. Never say never. The first of those records “Return To Dust” offered up DJent fuelled Metalcore riffage and 90’s style electronics, so how does the second nightmarish vision in “Mistake” fare?

An 80’s style Blade Runner soundtrack inspired introduction breaks Industrial Metal with flavours of bands like Kissing Candice or Combichrist as chugged staccato riffage meets brooding electronics and a dark spoken word as “upside uʍop” takes shape. An introspective lyrical narrative swirls around the unsettling rhythmic battery, haunting synths adding a touch of melody to the punishing madness, jagged edges left purposefully rough and raw in inflict maximum damage. Continuing to embrace the aesthetic “Mistake” hints at Symphonic Metal influences during a spoken word introduction before Adam roars venomously through the pages of the lyric book, his voice as harsh as the soundscape in which it resides. Twisting and contorting like an awkward soul trying to wriggle free from a vice grip, the landscape changes from rich and melancholic synths through spine juddering guitars to rumbling bass, each element put to good use in bringing a nightmarish vision to life. Heavy, creative and intriguing, this pair of tunes feels like it would be polished to within an inch of its life in the wrong hands but here is allowed to stand, stark and raw, for all the world to see. Adams feels like he could be a Trent Reznor type character in the making… [7/10]

Track Listing