🎶 Distorted Reflection
🌎 Athens, Greece
📀 Doom Zone
® Iron Shield Records
📅 27/3/2026
DISTORTED REFLECTION is a unique band, just like Kostas Salomidis, the mastermind behind it. Salomidis is one of the romantic figures in the scene who prefers a low-profile image, honoring his underground roots, mainly with his previous band, SORROW’S PATH. Furthermore, both DISTORTED REFLECTION’s first album, “Doom Rules Eternally,” and “Doom Zone” show that he remains clearly committed to his beloved Doom Metal, and specifically to its Old School form.
The band’s line-up now includes, apart from himself on vocals and guitars, Vangelis Yal (bass, synth) and Thomas Zen on drums, who obviously share the same vision as Kostas, as his ideas are clear and flow effortlessly. It is no coincidence that, as he himself has revealed, there is plenty of new staff already for the next album. Of course, there are also prominent guests such as Jack Starr (VIRGIN STEEL, PHANTOM LORD) with an excellent guitar solo on the opening track “3000 A.D.”. DISTORTED REFLECTION manage to pick up exactly where they left off in 2024, but add extra elements to their sound, which of course remainstrue to the basic principles of classic doom metal with epic touches, diffuse melodiousness, and a pompous character that is reflected both in the music and in Salomidis’s vocal performance in many parts of the album.
Another positive aspect of the album is that the compositions do not drag on unnecessarily. Most of them are short and to the point, because when you are clear about what you want to present, you don’t need long compositions to achieve your goal. If I had to point out something negative, it would be Salomidis’s vocal performance in certain parts of the album, since in his attempt to be pompous and quite doomy, his performance ultimately becomes rather pretentious.
These are details, of course, that do not detract from the overall picture of a very good album with strong compositions, a doom atmosphere, and excellent guitars. It is particularly refreshing to see that there are musicians who rely more to pure emotion and romanticism than to a cold logic of commercializing our favorite music. Both approaches are legitimate and accepted, but we love the first category of artists a little more.
★ 8,5/10
✍🏻 Kostas Boudoukos
