REFLECTIONS OF INTERNAL RAIN - Eight - LP

The quiet and unglorified absence of Reflections of Internal Rain (ROIR), Serbia's premiere (and, arguably, only) neo-crust outfit, has created a vacuum no other band has been able (or probably wanted) to fill.

Emerging from the thick grey smoke of a small town too big for its shoes in a country with a rich history of trauma and a promise of more of the same to come, the band got its start in the young years of the new millennium. With their explosive mix of swirling guitar melodies, throat-ripping vocals, and relentless, unforgiving drumming, they quickly blazed a path across Europe, playing everything from scruffy squats to large festivals and sharing the stage with many bands you know well and many others you have forgotten (shame on you!). Along the way, they recorded an album and a couple of EPs which perfectly captured their manic punk rock energy that sounds urgent and impactful to this day.

And then they simply stopped.

Now, more than a decade since the last time they committed anything to tape, they are back with a new mic-dude, a new stick-man, and a new EP titled "Eight". The new recording finds the band revisiting its old stomping grounds only to wander off and push forward in new and unpredictable directions. It is the sound of a band aware of its past, but using it as a foundation on which to build further rather than simply recycling.

Lyrically, "Eight" is a soul-bearing exploration of the pain, grief, and fear of imminent separation. With the title referring to a band member's parent's 8-month-long battle with cancer, the songs on the recording dive into some of the most harrowing parts of the human experience and emerge with something that's not quite hope, yet so much more than despair.

"Eight" is a celebration of humanity and human fragility, of our ability to love, grieve, and carry on with the memory of what we left behind.