Reflections of Internal Rain – Eight EP

Reflections of Internal Rain are the pioneering punk legends from Novi Sad. Formed in 2004, they play neocrust with prominent screamo influences that paved the way in the Novi Sad hardcore scene and quickly carved their path into the Euro circuit over the years. They dropped their debut album Lost Floods in 2009, a split with a Banja Luka sister band Deer in the Headlights in 2010 and a subsequent EP Answers in 2011 (then re-released in 2014). After that they all went radio silent.

After nearly a decade of absence, the ROIR team has awoken from their hibernation and come back stronger than ever with their latest release titled Eight. A six track EP packed with a lot of conciseness, care and a few deep punches. According to the band, the title Eight refers to a member’s parent’s eight-month battle with cancer, so the lyrical content takes a deep dive into that experience, an experience so harrowing it’s overwhelming with despair.

With the exception of the EP’s final song, “Overcoming The Silence,” which laments:

Tired of feeling broken,
abandoned, wanted to believe
that nothing has changed,
that everyone will stay the same.

But then ROIR proceeds to take a few steps further to acceptance and clarity, followed with:

My lungs full of clean air,
moment of clarity and overcoming of the silence.
Nothing’s going to stay the same,
this is the last time I pull the strings
to my own arms.

This is an EP that is set to grow on you for good reason. ROIR’s release is a celebration of humanity’s most vulnerable moments in life, giving the ability to grieve, accept and move on.