Reflections of Falling Satellites is an experimental Rock / Metal recording project from Cape Town, South Africa with an atmospheric and powerful but difficult to pin down sound. The guitar and bass parts are performed and recorded by Neil van Zyl over programmed drums and then given to Ruan Jordaan to create the drum sound and to mix and master the songs.

VOLUME ONE: 2006 - 2011

With a growing passion for music and a desire to make his own Neil started playing guitar in 2006 and released the first album “Volume One” online under the R.O.F.S. banner in January 2011. The album features cover artwork by Bison and lyrics written and performed by Joshua Grierson on the songs “My Resistance” and “The Pleasure The Pain”.

RECEPTION:

Volume One received mixed reviews with athousandguitars.com praising the EP’s production quality by saying: “Production value isn’t something that I usually look for in music, song writing trumps production EVERY time for me. I don’t care how good something sounds if the songs aren’t up to standard, but in this case production actually adds to the feel of the songs in a vital way. Mostly because all of the drumming on display on these tracks is programmed, rather than recorded live. Going this route immediately gives the music a certain feel, and it totally works. In this case the mood we get is ominous, atmospheric and heavy.”

Musicreview.co.za pointed out Neil’s technical skills and had the following to say about the EP: “The music itself is rather interesting. Although there are those moments of something powerful, perhaps due to a kind of driving malevolence, the over-technical nature of the guitar can get aurally tiresome. Van Zyl relies on a drum machine for rhythm, which is accurate but lacks dimension. The music is virtuosic-ally great; very appealing to anyone who is interested in guitar, but not really something that has depth or perspective. I wouldn’t book him for a party, but I would possibly ask him around to a jam session.”

VOLUME TWO: 2011 - 2012

Starting a month after Volume One was released Neil began writing and recording Volume Two. Determined to write songs that were more technical and better than the ones on Volume One, the recording process for his parts took 10 months to complete. After the music was recorded Joshua Grierson returned to write and perform lyrics for 4 of the 7 songs on the EP. The vocals for two songs were finished in January and the final vocal recording session took place in mid February when there was a break in Joshua’s schedule. Volume Two is currently being mixed and mastered by Ruan Jordaan.