Dark Reflection – Everlasting Night

Founded in 2015 in order to bring back the golden 90’s era of Swedish melodic death metal, Dark Reflection is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Sundsvall (eastern part of the country). Their style of playing has been heavily influenced by the golden late 90’s/00’s era by legendary bands such as In Flames, At the Gates and Dark Tranquililty. Good thing is that these guys are not trying to hide it, but are rather proud of their musical influences. Thus, from the songwriting, riffing and mixing, one can immediately feel the 90’s energy flowing though their veins.

Prior to the release of this twelve-tracker full-length debut, the band released a self-titled EP in 2021. With the release of their EP one could already sense a direction this band is heading to further on in their career. It eventually also culminated into the full-length album, that I’ve been listening to for the last couple of days, Everlasting Night. What we can hear on Everlasting Night are some bone-crushing and jaw-dropping riffs, chainsaw tones, killer chords, the smooth, intense and dynamic drumming, and the biting and guttural vocals.

All the tracks on Everlasting Night are worth listening to, but my personal favourites are “Death’s Burden” (a real head-banging killer track, with no dull moment at all) and “Harvest” (mainly due to this tumultuous wave of riffs and guttural vocals). Album’s grand finale is called “Mirrorchapel” – tying up the album beautifully!

Main lyrical content is about some historical and pessimistic themes, something one would expect from a (melo)death metal act. The production part is simply great where Jonas Jönsson’s mix (mix evokes the ’90s without feeling outdated) is sharp capturing the instruments and vocals extremely well. The cover art, created by Nayla Art, also perfectly matches the mood of the music.

It’s pretty safe to say there are still metalheads out there yearning for the classic melodic death metal sound and Dark Reflection will deliver. Make no mistake, Everlasting Night is for all those that like their metal vicious, extreme and brutal but at the same time beautiful, melodic and epic. Esp. recommended for fans of the aforementioned In Flames, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, Amon Amarth and similar scene giants from the 90s era of Swedish-style melodic death metal.

It’s clear that a tramendous amount of hard work, patience, and persistence went into the creation of this album. It all paid off, as Everlasting Night a very high-quality album that fits perfectly into the catalog of the above-mentioned pioneering/legendary bands.

For further info on this particular release visit https://grindtodeathrecords.bandcamp.com/album/everlasting-night