Reflection – The Battles I Have Won Review

[Cover artwork by Alexandros Vasilopoulos]

Founded in 1992 by guitarist Stathis Pavlantis in Athens, Greece, Reflection has released five albums (and a split) of epic heavy metal celebrating the spirit of the titans of the genre, like Iron Maiden and Manowar and Manilla Road, as well as local heroes, such as Thessaloniki’s Sarissa. These albums honor and resonate with the region’s passion for epic metal, even as they vary in objective quality from mostly good to occasionally great. Eight years since the band’s last release, Reflection’s newest LP, The Battles I Have Won, is an astonishing step up.

Opening salvo, “Only The Swords Survive,” is an absolute burner, ripping out the gate with barbarous fire. There’s a number of things that make this track great and they all set the stage for the album in one way or another. First, it’s just a terrifically written song, built to be swift and feel deadly in the way the sword fells its foe. Pavlantis’ guitar tone is savage and his riffs kill, but it’s the way they’re arranged that brings them to life, with complementary parts moved back and forth in the soundstage to add dynamic depth and between channels for breadth. Backing choirs, so important in Greek storytelling, are arranged by Kostas Rekleitis, who employs them judiciously to emphasize moments and fill out space so that they feel at once omnipresent and unobtrusive. During the track’s climactic midsection, guitar leads are tempered and layered with each other and with secondary vocals to generate an atmosphere of rising tension and finally resolve; this is noteworthy because, whereas a simple bitchin solo would have been perfectly fine and probably even awesome, the approach taken emphasizes the vast battle of the song’s tale, in which thousands lie on the ground / only the swords survive. That focus on the song above individual pieces is what takes this song from good to great and why it’s able to generate a feeling to match that displayed on Alexandros Vasilopoulos’ wonderful cover art, a veritable berserker energy that would have even the other huns looking sideways at each other and thinking, shoowee, this guy could tone it down a notch!

Now, metalheads everywhere have suffered the disappointment of an amazing opening track that’s followed by a slew of WTFs. The Battles I Have Won inflicts no such indignity. All nine songs across all 43 minutes of Battles are of top quality and reflect to varying degrees all of the best things about that opening track. Pavlantis is the primary songwriter and he manages impressive variety across the album in terms of style, from traditional metal to doom and power, each variation nonetheless imparting that rousing triumphant spirit of epic metal, especially remarkable given that no track exceeds five-and-a-half minutes.

“Lord Of The Wind” is a fantastic example. The album’s third track is a showcase for new singer, Kostas Tokas, whose strong work with fellow Athenians, Power Crue, had already earned him praise among his peers. Tokas has got his own voice but his style, especially on Battles, places him in very interesting if somewhat unusual space between Fabio Lione and Klaus Meine. Pavlantis again works with his players to maximize their contributions with thoughtful songwriting and production decisions, here layering and harmonizing Tokas’ vocals to add compelling, dynamic energy.

Then notice again the fantastic contributions of Rekleitis’ strings and choirs, the soaring energy of Pavlantis’ riffs and solos and, here especially, the foundational drive of (Stathis’ brother) Giorgos Pavlantis’ drums and John Litinakis’ bass guitar, rolling relentlessly and sometimes rising like Santorini lava through crusted basalt.

Litinakis is credited with songwriting on a couple of Battles’ tracks and, although it’s difficult to know from available information, these appear to be his first for Reflection. Once you know which they are, it makes more sense that, even amid the diversity of this album’s songs, these two are distinctive. Litinakis’ songs feature Eastern scales which, together with Pavlantis’ fretwork and Tokas’ kingly vocals, recall classic metal works like “The Sails Of Charon” and “Stargazer” with reverence.

It’s always great to see that a heavy metal artist isn’t just good at their craft, but is a fan of the music, as well. One of the clearest signs is the tasteful incorporation of influences into songs that still bear their own distinctive mark. In addition to the references above to Scorpions and Rainbow, the songs on The Battles I Have Won celebrate Warlord and Omen and Stratovarius and Rhapsody Of Fire, effectively spanning the history of epic metal, whether you call it traditional, heavy, or power. It’s truly remarkable, then, that it flows so effortlessly in and out of niches across the album and sounds all the while only like Reflection in 2025.

If you spend any time reading about epic metal, you’ve surely seen plenty of questions about what must be in the water in Greece. How else to explain the uncanny concentration of kick ass epic heavy metal in such a relatively small geographical area. Literally millennia of warriors’ blood valiantly spilled into the aquifers, their stories and lessons captured in mythology and philosophy and history preserved and venerated; Greeks have the stuff of metal coursing through their veins and are immersed in it from birth. Recent years have seen a tremendous surge of exceptional epic metal by Greek bands, from Achelous and Triumpher to Innerwish and Sacred Outcry among many others. Reflection continues the hot streak with The Battles I Have Won, an outstanding record that reverberates with all the power and glory, might and majesty of their homeland.

Posted by Lone Watie

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