Band's List Metalcore Reflections The Fantasy Effect

Firstly, I would like to clarify that the score you see at the top of this review was given at a time when I was all for the whole "djent" thing, but it has officially gotten out of hand. Both the metalcore and deathcore genres are being flooded with faceless bands ripping each other off time and time again. This polyrhythmic style of writing was initially pioneered by world renowned Meshuggah, and there are certain bands that can practice this style while still pushing the boundaries a bit and keeping the listener engaged (Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya) but I just can't stand it anymore. One of said clones is the band I will be reviewing now, they hail from Minnesota, are pretty young (formed in 2010), the album is The Fantasy Effect, and they are simply known as Reflections...the irony.

First off, the one thing I noticed that nearly ate me alive was how the bass drums sound. I am all for that really deep, gushy, and ORGANIC sound, yes, but I am not partial to the drums sounding like freaking slot machines. It feels way too artificial, and makes me feel like the band didn't even try on that part. Other than that, the album's production fares quite well. Everything meshes together nicely without anything empowering the spotlight.

Next up I want to focus on the musicianship. Whilst the bandsounds pretty tight and bode competence with their instrumentation, it simply sounds too clonish, aside from a few riffs and solos here and there, like in the track "An Artifact" there's a really cool, soft jazzy solo, it being one of the standout points throughout the listen. Other than a few creative riffs, and some pretty tasty soloing, The Fantasy Effect is filled to the brim with repetitive "djenty" breakdowns everyone who has listened to this style can easily recognize. In fact, the first song is literally a three minute long breakdown, some only varying from the others slightly. I KNOW the band has a creative mind, because there are points in the record that really make you think "wow", but those moments, unfortunately, are scattered in small spurts throughout the record.

The only notable track for me was track five, "An Artifact". This one song is the only real memorable one, for me. It begins with a very catchy, groovy breakdown that smoothly transitions to a small sidewinding solo, then transitions again to a nice calming melody, and then proceeds to keep the listener engaged with creative writing, another smile-inducing solo, and then the jazz-like solo that put a massive grin on my face took the cake. Other than track five, all the others, although they do differ in sound, and that proves the band's creative abilities, is simply lackluster and clone-like. The Fantasy Effect gets, from me, an 11/20 simply for having enjoyable moments scattered here and there, but it just doesn't hold up as a whole, and sounds way too similar to the other faceless bands that have flooded the scene lately.