Eternal or should I say Eternal (of Sweden) is one of the many bands with this name. After their debut album in 2012 called Chapter 1, this is the next album, you could say Chapter 2. The music can be described as hardrock influenced tough melodic power metal with keyboard lines, bombastic elements and sounding a bit theatrical. There are elements of 80’s hardrock reminding of Dio, Accept, but also Scandinavian (Stratovarius) and German powermetal (Primal Fear) influences.
Singer Christer Gärds has a very powerful and rough sounding voice and is the ideal singer for a power metal band. He sounds emotional at times and adds a rough side to the music. After a while there is a certain satisfaction in the music, there is a little lack of variaty. There are a bit too much mid tempo tracks in my opinion and after the first song, which is in my opinion the best track I keep waiting for more superb songs. Also the choir singing parts are a bit too cliche like in “Freedom Now”. On the other hand, the ballad “Angel” with a beautiful duet between Mikaele Herrickson and Christer is a real pearl. Peter Tägtren gave a very bombastic sound to the album and the guitars are rather low tuned which makes the music sound rather dark. I don’t know yet if the album deserves 7 or 8 points. I like a lot of songs, but they are far from original for the bigger part, on the other hand it all sounds so great!
This is a typical album for 7,5 points. I advice you to listen to the album because the music deserves that and if you don’t mind that it doesn’t sound very original, you have a hell of an album here.
Tracklist:
01. Ruins
02. Heaven’s Gate
03. Surrounded By Shadows
04. Angel
05. The Purity Inside
06. Praying For A New Tomorrow
07. Freedom Now
08. Eternal Fire
09. Evil Dance
10. Burning With Pride
Playing time: 46:00
Release date: 29 January 2016
Label: Black Lodge
Website: www.facebook.com/eternalsweden
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