Eldritch – Underlying Issues

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eldritch

This is the tenth album of this Italian band. Eldritch is a progressive metal band, although I have to say that the term progressive isn’t always easy to describe. What is progressive? Must the music have influences of progressive 70’s rock bands? Or should there be influences of more modern bands like Dream Theater involved in the music? Or must there be some new paths taken, some progression in the music? I really can’t give you an answer to that one. If the band is put in the progressive metal corner, so be it. Why this questions? Well, I read a review of this new album somewhere on the internet. The reviewer didn’t think the music was progressive and because of that, he completely slaughtered the music by rating it very low. I know that tastes are different, but in my opinion, this isn’t fair.

I think that  the band and the music don’t deserve such a rating, because the music is good. Sure, there are some things that could be better, for example the little accent of the singer, but for an Italian, it isn’t bad, I have heard much worse. The guitars on the album are heavy and rather low tuned, which sees to it that the album is HEAVY and with an almost thrashy vibe. The keys in the songs are mixed in just fine, not too up front. The vocals are varied enough to not get bored, sometimes they sound a little bit nasal, but that doesn’t irritate me. There is enough variety in the songs, which sometimes are rather fast and heavy, but with enough tempo changes and easier parts. One of my favorite songs is “Piece Of Clarity”, a heavy song with subtle keyboard parts. The closing track has some pure thrash parts, fast and heavy, which also puts a smile on my face.

The first albums of the band had a lot of early Dream Theater influences and back then, it was kind of an Italian DT clone. I think that in their 20 years of existence, they progressed and found a style which suits them. Heavy, with nice keyboard lines and the necessary variety.

Tracklist:

01. Changing Blood
02. Danger Zone
03. Broken
04. All And More
05. The Face I Wear
06. To the Moon And Back
07. Bringers Of Hate
08. The Light
09. Piece Of Clarity
10. Before I Die
11. Slomotion K Us

Playing time: 57:00

Release date: 6 November, 2015

Label: Scarlet Records

Website: www.eldritchweb.com

About Reinier de Vries 188 Articles
Once a metal head, always a metalhead. My parents thought it would only be a period, but they were wrong. I quit to explain the beauty of metal music to others that are not into metal, because it is something you can't tell in words... It is like explaining to a teetotaller why a cold beer is so nice on a hot day... I started with bands like Accept, Metal Church, Iron Maiden and Metallica in the eighties and I think I will still listen to them when I'm stone deaf and old...

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