Cover for Red Reflection album ‘Prelude to Annihilation’

On their sophomore album, Prelude to Annihilation, Red Reflection comes across as the neo-classical progeny of Skinny Puppy side-project Doubting Thomas. Somber orchestrations are layered over tribal rhythms and the stray hip-hop beat; elegant piano passages are bruised by intermittent patches of electronic static. A spoken word intro, reminiscent of Boyd Rice, prepares the listener for an epic journal ahead: “Maybe death is a gift…you [the listener] wonder,” a natural escape from a world plagued by violence and grief, according to Red Reflection.

The first proper track, “Withering World,” is all sinister strings and foreboding brass interludes, perhaps what Steroid Maximus might sound like in collaboration with Laibach. Other tracks have the breezy quality of newer Delerium, although the material here is indisputably darker. I would recommend this for fans of neo-classical and the Cold Meat Industry sound. If you like Will, Steroid Maximus, or Cold Meat Industry acts like the The Protagonist, then this CD is for you.

For more Gothic-Industrial content, along with other electronic music genres, please see the following:

• amGod ‘Dreamcatcher’ Box Review
• Cock E.S.P. / Panicsville: Last Train to Cocksville (review)
• Doormouse: Freaked Out Mess (review)
• Doormouse: Messed Out Freak (review)
• Earth Loop Recall: Compulsion (review)
• Jihad | Live In Bratislava 28-02-2015 – Dark EBM Souls
• N3VOA: Wasted Memories (review)
• Rob Gee: Na Na / Fuck Osama Bin Laden (review)
• Suicide Commando: [Cause Of Death: Suicide] [One Nation Under God]
• Ulver: Teachings in Silence (review)
• Ulver: A Quick Fix of Melancholy (review)
• Various Artists: Interbreeding II: Industrial Mutation

This review was originally written for Industrial Nation Issue #21, published in July of 2005 (estimated). There were 15,000 copies printed.

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