Stormwind – Reflections (Re-Mastered)

Stormwind
Reflections (Re-Mastered)
Black Lodge Records
March 19, 2021 (Originally 2001)
51:22

Thomas Wolf continues. After the remastered reissue of “Resurrection”, he has now taken on the 2001 output “Reflections”. So, it’s another twentieth anniversary. I already liked the predecessor very much. That’s why I also listened to this work. Magnus Lindberg (Redmount Studios, Hellacopters, Imperial State Electric, Lucifer, Dool, among others) was engaged for the remastering.

On “Reflections” you first have to endure a rather unnecessary intro (“Genesis”). Oriental touches with Arabic vocals. Only in the second half does it become more rocking thanks to the rhythm section and thus comes within a hair’s breadth of being rated “embarrassing”. Speaking of intros, every song obviously starts with an intro, albeit a short one. With “War Of Troy” you can hear the roll of thunder. But then the mastermind hits us with his riffs. There is no need to say anything about Thomas Vikström’s vocals. He puts his own stamp on the songs. The epic choruses provide a certain amount of bombast. A very fast rock song, where also the solos of guitar and keyboard are like a real perforce ride. But unfortunately, it doesn’t go on like this. Already with “The Man Behind The Iron Mask” (with wolf howls at the beginning) the tempo is reduced a little. The fact that the album flattens out during the title song doesn’t do the overall impression any good. You would think softly flushed fluffy rock. This continues with “Illusion”. And the fact that the ballad “Golden Tears” has to provide the next highlight speaks volumes. Outstanding vocals and a brilliant guitar solo characterise this song. Queen For Nine Days” is also one of the better songs on the album. This is first class heavy metal again. Great riffs at the beginning of “Dynasty” let us hope for a lot. However, later the rocking is only in midtempo. But with “Assassin Of Honour” you are compensated a little. This is where things really get going. You are invited to sweaty headbanging. “Ramses” was the regular closing song twenty years ago. A midtempo stomper with oriental influences. Here the circle to the intro is closed. There are two bonus tracks on the current edition. First, the instrumental “Venezia”. The acoustic guitars sound like a finger exercise to warm up. Dismissible. Finally, the David Lee Rother cover “A Little Ain’t Enough” is a real hit. I even like it better than the original.

First of all, I liked the predecessor “Resurrection” better. The quality of the song material on “Reflections” is just too mixed. Most annoying are the short intros at the beginning of each song. Nevertheless, this is a good rock album. And in the remastered version, it is also mixed extremely powerfully for the most part. The wish I expressed in the previous review will probably not come true. There is probably no new material from the supergroup in the works. If Thomas Wolf continues like this, then in two years he could come up with the remastered version of “Rising Symphony”. But let’s see what the future brings.

Stormwind – War of Troy (Remastered) [Audio Track]: https://youtu.be/tkMsC5T7l_8 

Lineup:

Thomas Wolf – Guitars(
Thomas Vikström – Vocals
Patrick Johansson – Drums
Andreas Olsson – Bass
Kaspar Dahlqvist – Keyboards

Track list:

• Genesis
• War Of Troy
• The Man Behind The Iron Mask
• Reflections
• Illusion
• Golden Tears
• Queen For Nine Days
• Dynasty
• Assassin Of Honour
• Ramses
• Venezia *
• A Little Ain´t Enough * 

* Bonus Tracks