UMUR
"Reflections" is the third full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Centinex. The album was released through Emanzipation Productions in February 1997. It´s the successor to "Malleus Maleficarum" from April 1996, so it´s been under a year since the release of the predecessor. Joakim Gustavsson, who played drums on about half the tracks on "Malleus Maleficarum (1996)" has left, and hasn´t been replaced on "Reflections". Instead all drums on the album are programmed by bassist Martin Schulman, who also programmed drums on the tracks on "Malleus Maleficarum (1996)", where Gustavsson didn´t perform.
Stylistically the material on "Reflections" is old school Swedish death metal. It´s Dismember I think about first, but Centinex are generally a bit more melodic. This is not melodeath in any way though, but just melodic inclined old school Swedish death metal. Qualitywise it´s pretty standard fare for the genre and style, and coming out in 1997 it probably didn´t receive that many contemporary praises. By that time Scandinavian metal was either black metal, power metal, or melodeath. Anything old school was at this point considered...well old and outdated.
That doesn´t mean that "Reflections" is not a quality release as it´s both well performed, decently composed, and while not particularly well produced, it features a sound production which suits the material relatively well. So upon conclusion "Reflections" is another middle-of-the road death metal release from Centinex. It´s not bad but it´s not really great either and a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.