Formed in 1992, Reflection hails from Greece and plays epic heavy metal. Pitch Black Records is proud to present their fifth album, The Battles I Have Won, out now.

Between its title and cover art, Reflection’s The Battles I Have Won appears to be stand fare for epic heavy metal. The question in my mind going into the album for the first time was whether the material inside could uplift and invigorate the outside, and I am happy to report that, for my money, Reflection has contributed to epic heavy metal another album worthy of the listener’s attention. Inside is a surprising mixture of epic doom metal and power metal with ample detours into melodious choruses and smoldering guitar solos. While overall familiar in sound, The Battles I Have Won demonstrates that Reflection is indeed a force to be reckoned with in the epic heavy metal sphere, as they know how to reinvigorate the more familiar aspects of the subgenre by playing up dynamic juxtapositions of tempo, tone, and volume. Let us see what battles Reflection has won on this album!

Review

The Battles I Have Won comes ripping right out of the gate with Only the Swords Survive, a high speed burst of epic heavy metal. Immediately we are greeted by exhilarating guitar fireworks, Reflection’s signature choral backing vocals, and Kostas Tokas’s always melodious voice. The drums drive this song through lots of start-stop dynamics that make for a thoroughly engaging experience. Although the fastest song on the album, Only the Swords Survive does introduce some of the grandly mournful mood that will dominate much of the album. An excellent choice to kick off the album, Only the Swords Survive enters and exits swiftly and with dramatic effect.

The Battles I Have Won offers a bruising low end riff to counterbalance the high speed fret work of Only the Swords Survive. A worthwhile title track, the song features a layered approach to vocals in the chorus and consistently punishing guitar chugging. Over top of these crunchy riffs, Reflection layers choral vocals, adding a depth and atmosphere to everything. Reflection also knows when to toss in some epic twin guitar leads to spice things up, such as before the guitar solo in this track.

Lord of the Wind recalls in some passages Crypt Sermon’s grandiose vision of doom and gloom, but then the song will take a turn into more power metal flavored riffs and licks. Reflection’s approach to vocals throughout is to engage the listener with unexpected flourishes, and these flourishes give Lord of the Wind a lot of character. A fiery guitar solo around the mid section of the song also keeps things interesting. Coming on the heels of this guitar solo is a breakdown into moody bass and lightly tapped cymbals. Reflection has a keen control of dynamics here.

Sirens’ Song mixes some of the doomed grandeur of Candlemass into Reflection’s epic heavy metal to great effect. Built around a punishing stomper of a riff, the song shows Reflection always has another trick up their sleeves to keep things interesting. While the drums keep the song consistently heavy, the guitars and vocals take ample detours into new territory to put the emphasis on the Epicus of the Doomicus Metallicus at work.

Once Again (Crime in the Valley of Death) detours into more melodic fare, injecting some power metal into the proceedings. At this point in the album, no one could accuse Reflection of resting on their laurels and recycling any ideas – thus far, each song has a distinctive identity. The downside to this approach is that the album feels a little less cohesive, but the upside is that this album rarely bores. Reflection commits to each song’s approach with such vigor and renewed energy. In fact, even the slower songs on this album brim with energy. It is an exhilarating experience, particularly in a subgenre that can dabble in patience testing. Once Again in particular features the catchiest chorus on the album so far and one of its most memorable guitar licks. An album highlight.

Celestial War continues in a similar vein to Once Again, and on first listen I missed the energy of the early tracks. However, on repeat listens, Celestial War has become one of my favorite tracks – the change up about two-thirds of the way through the track is one of the most unexpected moments on the album, with the guitar and bass interplay bringing a tremendous amount of intrigue. It’s a short section of the song, but one that always catches my ear.

March of the Argonauts opens with a familiar but very welcome epic galloping riff. Perhaps more than any other song on The Battles I Have Won, this track captures Reflection’s contribution to epic heavy metal: high energy heavy metal that masterfully splits the difference between epic doom and power metal. Choral voices swell below epic choruses while the guitars trade off between crushing riffage and soaring twin guitar leads. This track in particular gets stuck in my head on every repeat listen. When Reflection wants to write a chorus that you will remember, they succeed effortlessly.

Lady in the Water enters the stage with a gently sung voice that crescendos into a single adventurous guitar riff onto which is then layered a harmonizing guitar voice. Maybe not the most original trick in the book, but it works perfectly here. More than anything, though, this track serves as a showcase for Tokas’s melodious voice and the band’s ability to set the stage for his tales of epic fantasy. On repeat listens, I am always surprised at how quickly this album moves, with Lady in the Water being the first song that pulls me out of the proceedings enough to make me take note of just how much of the album has passed. Still, it is an accomplishment for an epic heavy metal song to sound this pretty.

City Walls of Malta – The Great Siege sets the stage for the album’s finale with drumless swells. Enter Tokas’s voice supported by guitars playing in perfect unison with his singing. Drums enter to ratchet up the tension before the track again fades into percussionless swells of choral voices and ringing guitar and bass chords. The track continues to build, but the release that comes after 3 minutes is a bit underwhelming. In all, I find this the biggest misstep of the album, as the song never quite culminates in anything satisfyingly heavy or epic. I think a different choice for the album closer would make me more excited to hit the play button all over again.

Conclusion

At 43 minutes, The Battles I Have Won is a compact machine of an album, a burst of epic heavy metal energy that knows better than to overstay its welcome with overlong songs. Although I would have preferred a more satisfying conclusion to the album, knowing that the album opens with such an exhilarating track makes it easy to start it up again. The triumph of The Battles I Have Won is its seamless mixture of epic doom metal’s low end crush with power metal’s larger than life mood. Reflection may not reinvent any wheels here, but they play their unique take on epic heavy metal with exuberance and, more importantly, without taking the listener’s attention for granted, a mistake epic heavy metal acts make all too often. For epic heavy metal fans, this album is another victory under Reflection’s battle-worn belt.

TheNWOTHM Score: 8.5/10 

Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reflectiongr

Label: https://www.pitchblackrecords.com/

Bandcamp: https://pitchblackrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-battles-i-have-won

Out now!

Current Line-up:
Kostas Tokas – Vocals
Stathis Pavlantis – Guitars
John Litinakis – Bass
Giorgos Pavlantis – Drums