ETERNAL OF SWEDEN – Heaven’s Gate (CD)

This Swedish combo, originally called just Eternal, released their debut album Chapter 1 in 2012, so it’s about time for a follow-up. The debut was in the vein of Eclipse, with a slightly heavier edge. Melodic hard rock with a touch of AOR. Well, opening track Ruins kicks off the new album way heavier than its predecessor. This reminds me quite a lot of Nocturnal Rites actually. Still melodic and still heavy, but even more bombastic and with Sabaton:ish warrior style choirs (which I unfortunately don’t especially like). The title track continues in the same vein, but fortunately leaving the “warriors” outside. Surrounded By Shadows draws closer to power metal in its design, but Christer Gärds is far more interesting than the majority of the current power metal singers. The production by Peter Tägtgren is powerful and heavy, but there’s something with the keyboards I just don’t like. It’s like they are floating in a dimension of their own, disconnected from the rest of the music. It’s like they are far away and with a big reverb all over it. It’s especially evident in the track The Purity Inside, but also in several other tracks. I’ve given the album a few spins and it hasn’t hit me as hard as the outstanding debut. I hope it will grow on me, but I think the main problem for me is that they have moved in a direction that is a bit further from what I’m into right now. Still, it’s top quality on musicians, vocals and overall it sounds killer, and the track Freedom Now is damn fine!

Janne Stark

Country: Sweden

Year: 2015

Label: Black Lodge

ETERNAL – Chapter 1 (CD)

Eternal produces really good high quality guitar dominated melodic metal, very similar to Nocturnal Rites on The 8th Sin. The band has an outstanding singer in Christer Gärds with a great, raspy, still very melodic voice, actually a bit similar to Johnny in Nocturnal Rites, which is just great in my book. In Scream Higher I also hear quite a lot of Graham Bonnet in Christer, which is yet another nice touch. The balance between keyboards and guitar is really good, with the great guitarplaying of brother Bosse Gärds never being overshadowed. Keyboardist Pontus Lekaregård also does his part with a nice touch, not only laying down carpets of sound, but actually adding some nice key-twiddling in the background, like in second track Human. The production should be credited Peter Tägtgren who proves he not only masters the heavier side of metal, but does a great job also when it comes to melodic metal. Come to think of it, the keyboard sound of Human actually made me think of Tägtgren’s Pain. The album offers a nice variety of songs, from faster stuff like Virus and Ray Of Light, to heavier stuff like Stay The Night and the Rainbow:esque The Thing with its oriental harmonies. All in all a really good solid heavy melodic rocker of an album, that should fit in well on the roster of labels such as Escape or Frontiers.
Janne Stark
Label: High Gear Music
Country: Sweden
Year: 2011
Link: http://www.eternalsweden.com/