Reflections

A seriously mysterious entity we have here, one that only very episodically appeared in the mid-90’s, and then vanished, leaving this EP and a demo before it. Not much to hold onto, but based on the surviving material one can detect a penchant for the classic thrash/death metal blend familiar from the works of Baphomet, Pestilence and mid-period Messiah.

The overshouty rending death metal vocals are put up front for most of the time, coming as an utterly vociferous mix between John Tardy (Obituary) and Martin Van Drunen (Pestilence), and their “magnetic charm” becomes instantly evident on “Find Yourself” as the man literally tears his vocal chords, taking a break on the several much more tender semi-declamatory moments. Music-wise this first cut is on the more avantgarde side, also recalling Phlebotomized and The Gathering’s debut with fast and slow passages taking turns on a dark atmospheric base. “Confession of Faith” has a sprawling elegiac intro giving a chance to the vocalist again to rest his bravado with authoritative recitals, before impetuous hard-hitting thrashing commences, the melodic pirouettes in the middle vintage Messiah, the bass player also participating actively with frequent interferences carving burrows into the appetizing technical cavalcade which is finalized by a supreme melodic lead section.

“The Lost” stirs a fabulous mix of gorgeous melodies and virtuoso bassisms the really rough vocals ruining the picture a bit, deafening the beautiful musical tapestries which turn into pure retro speed metal at some stage by retaining the technical lustre. “Question of Creation” notches up the aggression bringing the sound close to Nocturnus and the Swiss one-album-wonder Babylon Sad, the guys shredding with infernal intricacy, the dazzling rifforama intercepted by laid-back stomping breaks and breath-taking spasms of atmosphere. More outstanding bass feats at the start of “The Holy Scripture” which is another interesting progressive opus with hectic choppy riffage ala Pestilence, the more melodic developments in the second half taken straight from the later-period Death textbooks.

A really nice little compendium of the essence from the works of several luminaries, all of them still operational at the time, the majority having already moved to other modern, updated “pastures”. This echo from the very recent past wanted to remind these luminaries that there was still life left in the old school, and that there was strong underground resistance ready to keep the flame burning for as long as it took. This dark lively injection… sorry, syringe by all means got the job done regardless of the very momentary satisfaction it gave to the metal “addicts”.