Reflections emerged from Minneapolis in 2010 as a quartet whose sound fused rapid-fire drumming, percussive guitar work, and jagged, aggressive songwriting offset by ambient touches, drawing together progressive metal, djent, deathcore, and metalcore in a manner both ferocious and exacting. Vocalist Jake Foster and guitarist Patrick Somoulay, two like-minded metal enthusiasts who had gone to the same local high school, launched the project that year. They immediately brought in Patrick’s cousin Francis Xayana on bass, then added guitarist Charles Caswell, whom they met during a Minneapolis date of the Summer Slaughter Tour, and completed the lineup with drummer Cam Murray, located through an online advertisement. After building local support with numerous area performances, the band entered a home studio to record its first album, 2012’s The Fantasy Effect, employing the digital setup common among djent acts. The record received favorable notices and gained wider exposure once posted on Bandcamp and YouTube. Following additional regional touring and festival appearances, eOne Music offered the group a contract and paired them with producer Eyal Levi for sessions that yielded the follow-up, Exi(s)t, issued just twelve months after the debut surfaced online. In 2015 Reflections delivered The Color Clear, their strongest commercial showing to date when it entered the Heatseekers Albums Chart at number six. The next year the members declared an indefinite hiatus.
