Song of Anhubis
Reversed Reflection

Reversed Reflection looks very exciting with a great artwork that is a bit thought provoking and kind of reveals the concept behind the second album by Basque band Song of Anhubis. The debut was released in 2016 and this is said to be a 180° turn in comparison where the gothic metal has been toned down and more electronic elements as well as more straightforward rock and metal influences has spiced it all up – I didn’t hear the debut, but I like it when bands dare to move away from established patterns and surprise with fresh ideas. This album at least looks interesting, and it sounds interesting.

I think you could place them in the gothic box, it wouldn’t be wrong. But they have more than that, their music span over different areas and is quite dynamic as it reflects a theme of a journey between opposing worlds like light and darkness, it is a journey where the reflections can be reversed. Still, I do think that they could have had an even more dynamic sound, and while the vocalist is decent, she could have been better as well. There are also some male vocals, and fairly varied songs, the sound is pretty good with some room for improvement as suggested earlier. It is a fresh sounding album that doesn’t easily just fall into a box and then remain there, this hops around and moves from here to there, from light to dark and back if you like.

They do not do everything perfectly, pretty far from it, but what they do is dare to risk failure and come up with a great album instead of a perfect, yet extremely boring album likes those we get so many of – this is more fun. This album is rather enjoyable and thanks to the fresh thinking I don’t really mind some flaws, there are already more than enough paint-by-numbers releases out there, so I am glad to hear a band that does something fresh and while they don’t quite hit the mark all the way through, they still run circles around at least two thirds of the releases I review these days.

I like the album as a whole but maybe that the track Hypersomnia and Lethal Lens and perhaps Misantropía are more memorable. The biggest flaw I can see is that they haven’t released it on vinyl, and to be honest that doesn’t say much about the quality of the album, does it? I conclude that this album is great, and that this band has an even greater potential for a future classic.

HHHHHHH