No Reflection is the lead single from Marilyn Manson's eighth studio album, Born Villain. It was released in digital format on March 13, 2012 through Cooking Vinyl and Hell, etc., over a month ahead of the album. The single was released in physical format on April 21, 2012 as a limited-edition white vinyl, available only in the UK and Europe in celebration of Record Store Day. A music video directed by Lukas Ettlin was released to promote the single and it also features Roxane Mesquida. The music video premiered on April 4, 2012 on Marilyn Manson's VEVO channel. The song plays during the end credits of Chernobyl Diaries.
While describing Born Villain, Manson said: &the new record has the ambition and determination of how I started making music in the first place. It sounds like the first record in that it's not afraid to do anything. I had to remove myself from my lifestyle and start fresh&, citing the reason of his &new sound/style& in making music. Grade Music World described &No Reflection& as a &dark and brooding song that has Marilyn Manson stamped all over it, from the dissonant industrial scraping and head-nodding riff, to his announcement of &something violent coming.& The menace in the singer's voice is a sure sign that perhaps he's back to his best.& The single was released online on March 13, 2012, while a limited-edition white vinyl piece will be issued in celebration of Record Store Day. The single was released as white 7& vinyl in the UK and Europe on April 21, and will be strictly limited to 1,500 copies, featuring the album version as the a-side and the single edit on the b-side.
The song received a positive review from Loudwire.com who gave it a 4/5 star rating. They said of the single &We could call 'No Reflection' a &comeback& single, since it’s reminiscent of some of the Antichrist Superstar’s best work.& Loudwire also posted a &readers poll& where fans could rate the song. The song maintained strong popularity with the majority of fans voting favourably for the song and also adding dozens of positive comments. As of March 10 only 4.35% of fans voted unfavourably for the song. Kyle Anderson from Entertainment Weekly said: &But is &No Reflection& the way back for Manson, both the band and the man? The guitars are still loud, the beat still propulsive, and the chorus pretty melodic. It doesn’t quite hit the highs of big hits like &The Beautiful People& or &The Dope Show& but this is as tight as Manson has sounded in years.& Michal Roffman from Consequence Of Sound gave the song a positive review and said: &its chugging, Faint-friendly distortion offers plenty of sonic waves for Manson to glide over. Industrial enthusiasts still pining for Nine Inch Nails or glory-era Ministry will find solace here.& Brett Warner said that &the song is a pretty enjoyable bit of goth-tinged hard rock business.&
The music video for the song won Loudwire's Rock Video of the Year 2012. The song was also nominated for the Loudwire Rock Song of the Year, the award for which went to Three Days Grace for the song &Chalk Outline&. The song received a nomination for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 55th Grammy Awards, Manson's fourth Grammy nomination. (wiki)