REFLECTION (E)

Reflection is the debut album by the Belgian prog metal band Panopticum. Having listened to the album numerous times and having seen the band live at Progfarm in November 2005, there are some remarks to be made. Firstly the production is not state of the art, but it has the quality of a fairly good demo. There's not much depth in guitar sounds and muffled drum sounds. Nor live, nor on the record vocalist Shari managed to impress me. The parts sung in two or three voices with the guys in the band doing the backing vocals are okay, but neither of the vocalists has a powerful voice suitable to be the lead singer. The spirit of Dream Theater is omnipresent in all ten tracks, however, there are also influences of Yes and Enchant (The Chaos In Between). The only exception is the opening track Backstage, an instrumental piece featuring an echoing guitar and nice sequencers, almost in vein of electronic music! The beautiful melodies, the nice orchestrations and the key-role for the classically trained guitarist Mattie Archie prove that as far as the compositions are concerned, Panopticum has got potential. Provided they get a record deal, a good producer and a phenomenal lead singer, male or female, Panopticum may be a name to remember for sure!