Seneca – Reflections

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009, posted by K.Panagiotis

What happens when you find it totally suitable to recommend a specific album to both fans of Meshuggah or Gojira, but also to fans of Greenday or Story of the Year?

There are two options that come to my mind, but in this case only one is correct. The first option is that you have in your hands a unique album, by a highly talented band that managed to somehow merge different styles and rhythms into one production.

The other option – which is the one that fits better to our case – is that the band indeed combined different styles and maybe they are indeed talented, but the result is clemently chaotic! I mean, how can a band possibly combine brutal vocals, harsh guitar riffs and dominant percussions with “emo-clean” vocals and random piano in certain tracks?! Even though this question seems to me rather rhetoric, I’ll leave the answer up to you.

One thing is vividly clear to me and that is the fact that these guys seem to be doing pretty good in both styles, rhythms, or whatever it is you want to call it… Even though there are very few unique sequences throughout the album, the outcome is ok. You shouldn’t expect anything innovative to come out of Reflections! It has all been done before by other bands, but as I always say, it’s going to be a while until the Pantera of the 21st century! It’s not like you see innovative and “ahead-of-their-time” bands all over the place. Therefore, let’s not be too critical…

Moving on, I have a serious question to make! Why on earth did they give the name “Reflections” to the album?! I mean, the track is ok, but honestly, it’s one of the softest tracks of the album for me… If I was to distinguish one track from the whole album that would be “Names and Faces”, since it’s probably the track with the stronger sound. I don’t mean that “Reflections” is a bad track! On the contrary; if you like piano you’ll love “Reflections”! However, it’s totally unsuitable and the only reason why it stands out is because it’s so null and void in respect to the other tracks on this album.

Anyway, regardless of whether you agree or not with me, you can give Reflections a listen and make up you own minds…

Track List	Line Up
01. Optical 02. Palehorse 03. Black Gold 04. Carousels 05. Birds 06. Illusions 07. The 29th Day 08. Creator 09. Your Heart in My Hands 10. Names and Faces 11. Reflections	Corey Spencer: vocals Joe Miller: guitars Nathan Thomas: drums Rico Marziali; bass Ryan Noble: guitars