Reflections - Willow Review

Reflections has been around in different capacities for the better part of a decade now. I remember seeing the band in 2013 with All Shall Perish, Oceano, and more. It was a fun, bouncy djent set that got the crowd interested. This band is a different band than that one I saw in 2013, and a different band than the one that announced their hiatus/cancellation of touring in 2016. In the music business, most hiatuses last what feels like eons, but the upcoming Willow shows that the band is hungry for more.

The act’s previous effort, 2015’s The Color Clear, saw a bit of a stylistic change with more ambiance inserted into the music; this was much to the band’s benefit, as it was widely-regarded as their best work to date. Willow shows in its first five seconds of the opening track “Synthetics” that they took a different approach to their sound with a humongous bass drop and vitriolic lyrics from the get-go. Jake Wolf’s more shrill, yell-like uncleans used to be the standard, but that has been traded for a bevy of brutal lows to accompany them.

“From Nothing” brings a faster pace than the previous track, and has themes of perseverance through pain in its lyrics. This track hits close to home, with its evident dealings of abusive relationships. “Psychosis” follows and is crushing, with Jake’s vocals syncing up with the heavy instrumental delivery perfectly at parts, with a nice fade-out riff. Next comes “Isolation”, with almost a minute of build-up before the vocals come in; a complex section follows another build-up, making for a great payoff with the vicious lyric “If my mind was a house, I would paint the windows black – no one can see inside, I have too much to hide. I will lock every door, you can’t trust anyone anymore.” This is succinct angst that manages to not tread familiar lyrical ground.

“Marionette” does something with lyrics that I adore, rhyming great words: “Complete disconnection broken from the rejection, blinded by misconception, torn in two by my perception.” Jake also has a goosebump-inducing scream at 2:12 on top of a fantastic breakdown. “Dismal” continues the lyrical cleverness with the first verse opening with “3 days and 4 nights awake” and the second with “4 days and 5 nights awake” with progressively-drastic verbiage, leading to a climax of fierce, dire words.

The first clean vocals of the album appear on “Samsara”, one of the singles leading up to Willow‘s release. The urgency in the vocal delivery is engrossing and throws the listener for a loop at track 7 as it contrasts the otherwise-cruel tracks. I love how the clean sections are hopeful, while the unclean ones are helpless. The instruments provide great, varied melody through this track, as well. This is the standout song for me. “Empathy” has some great ghost notes from drummer Nick Lona, with a nice guitar spotlight near the end, layering two structured riffs.

“Seven Stages” has a supreme djent sound, with a tempo change 2 minutes in that caught me off-guard in the best way. “Illusionist” is infectious from the start, with Jake’s most violent lyrics yet and a breakdown at 1:21 that made me want to mosh in my own home. Willow winds down (figuratively) with “Help”, full of the expected hateful lyrics, challenging riffs, and unpredictable song structure. The last track, “Ghost”, has a good 90 seconds of melody before the droning band enters. It wraps a bow on the dark Willow beautifully.

I am hooked from first listen, as this brand of heavy music is seriously unique and hard to find. When Reflections announced their hiatus, I had the sense it would last longer than just 4 years, but we have lucked out with Willow. Jeff Key’s mixing and mastering brings out the instruments to massive proportions, giving an in-your-face sound to every track. Willow is required listening for metalcore/deathcore/djent fans, as Reflections is well-set for the next big step in their career.