Athenian post-punk project Reflection Black’s inception was in 2022, with the EP Entering Dreamtime. March of 2023, saw the debut album released on SwissDarkNights, titled ominously, Last Stop To Nowhere. Elis Alex is the man behind Reflection Black, who previously cut his musical teeth in the huge Greek black metal scene, with the bands Ravencult and Nigredo.

“With Last Stop To Nowhere I can say that I have made an album that I am truly happy with. One record, eight tracks, each one different from each other but still forming a very consistent big picture without any fillers. One should expect quite a few surprises in the album, from catchy riffs to heavily layered atmospheric synths and even guitar and saxophone solos. When it comes to the album’s lyrics, themes such as sleep, death, dreams and the occult are being explored extensively. In the end, most of the lyrical themes come down to a general context of mental and spiritual escapism with the questioning of current realities of all forms.” – Elis Alex

The first thing you notice in “Post Sleep Trauma” is the clinking sound like a hammer in a cavernous void, that is until there is a whirl of guitars to join the rhythm, along with bright synths. Alex’s vocals smoothly light up the track with their dark mourning of not wanting to see any dreams in his sleep.. The guitars chime and sparkle but there are “No Stars In The Sky” for this mesmerising and soaring apocalyptic piece, with the heavens being consumed by a black hole, but the chorus is far more riveting.

In amongst the gloom, true love always shines eternal, and this is the theme for “Under Your Shine” as it reverberates with the melting lyrics/vocals and consuming synths, entwined with the guitar. There is an 80s synthwave vibe to the title track “Last Stop To Nowhere“, bound on a ship going to a destination that is likely doomed. “Call My Name” is atmospheric and is filled with that beautiful echoing post-punk jangling guitar. The track soars with conviction and longing in Alex’s singing.

The entrancing “Let The Spirit“, delicately picks you up and bears you along on strong and gentle hands. The bursts of synths are truly magical and one could almost believe those spirits have been freed. When you sleep, there is a vividness not experienced in real life which is explored in the dreamhouse of the track “Yet Unseen Colours“, like a prayer for more than what reality can give. “Why Believe” is the final track, and what a track to finish with. Brooding, as if the angelic and devilish sit on each shoulder, pushing their agenda. Again there as the spiralling guitars that are forever drawing you in.

Elis Alex just has this voice to die for. Smooth, evocative and sensual. The music he creates takes the wonderful saturated guitar sound, made popular in the 80s with such bands as The Cure, March Violets and The Mission, and then it is mixed in with the modern synths, to give each track a wonderful dark velvet sumptuousness. All this is topped off by those vocals giving us some rather stunningly perfect tracks, as Reflection Black takes us to the Last Stop To Nowhere.

Last Stop To Nowhere | Reflection Black (bandcamp.com)

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