Reflection-When shadows fall

Cruz Del Sur
2008

I hate it when I can't remember something, but usually there is a reason for my momentary lapses in memory such as being preoccupied or tired. Now what does my lack of memory have to do with this album or any album? Well, I set out to review this album by Greece's Reflection days ago and ended up listening to the whole disc four times. I wish I could say that it was because this album was so riveting that it pulled me back to it repeatedly, but that unfortunately was not the case. I would listen to the disc and then a little while later go to set fingers to keyboard and I would draw a blank. It was metal, I remembered that yet I just couldn't summon up enough of what went on to write a review. So by the fourth time I concentrated and I realized that the reason I couldn't recall much it's a rather forgettable album. I don't mean it's totally bad, but rather that it's all kind of plain and just lacking enough character or hooks to really make any impression. The music is kind of a cross between early progressive metal like Queensryche and Fates Warning and a little bit of 80's classic metal. The guitar tone is fine, but it's kind of drawn out and I kind of sit there with my mind starting to wonder off and I hoped they get to the point or any point soon. Sometimes they would get somewhere, but oftentimes it's just kind of there. Some powerful vocals may have been able to pull them out of the pit, but the vocals are kind of overly theatrical with mediocre range and more ham than range. I get a sense that Reflection had big ideas about constructing some grand epic tracks yet they just didn't have the skills to pull it off. So we get a rather hollow sounding release that takes a great deal of effort to make it through. Quite honestly in the end it certainly wasn't worth the effort either.

http://www.myspace.com/reflectiongr