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May 17, 2012 |
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ECLIPSE ETERNAL - Reign Of The Unholy Blackened Empire
Galy Records (2004) |
6.5/10 |
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01. Desolation Forms My Mind's Eye
02. Sacrifice Love To the Gods Of Hate
03. Murder As Art
04. Awaken Ye Lords Of The Dark
05. Infested With the Human Disease
06. The Eternal King From Below Doth Arise
07. Heralds Of The Apocalypse
08. Reign Of The Unholy Blackened Empire
09. Storming The Pearly Gates
10. Heaven's Burning In Hell's Embrace
11. Requiem For The Fallen
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Black Metal. What a strange, precious, and self-serious chapter in the History of Heavy Metal this supremely 'EEEEVIIILLL!' subgenre has become. Don't get me wrong...I genuinely do enjoy and appreciate a good portion of what has fallen under the controversial and much-argued-upon mantle of BM. For what it's worth, I currently possess albums by such highly-regarded originators and innovators of the form as VENOM, EMPEROR, IMMORTAL, DARKTHRONE, and ENSLAVED as well as such respected(???), derided-by-the-'Troo/Kvlt'-set-as-'poseur' second-tier acts as DIMMU BORGIR, MARDUK, NAGLFAR and OLD MAN'S CHILD. Being an old-schooler, I would even argue that acts as diverse as MERCYFUL FATE, CELTIC FROST, POSSESSED, and even early SLAYER had as much of a hand in developing the Black Metal enigma as any of the above. Sorry, but I draw the line several miles before MAYHEM and BURZUM.
Black Metal originators they most certainly are, but for me personally, MAYHEM always just sounded like toilet-bowl-recorded cack and Varg Vikerne's politics disgust me; thus BURZUM will likewise never find a place in my collection. As for the gazillion and one copycats who have followed, all trying to find their niche within this confused and confusing subgenre, well...let's just say that very little has come to my attention that has managed to interest me in the way that say, 'Battles In The North' or 'Enthrone Darkness Triumphant' by example, did when they first appeared lo' those many years agone.
So that gives you at least a synopsis of my tastes and overall take as they apply to the whole 'Black Metal' scene/issue. That said, the time has come to examine this most recent BM offering from Toronto's ECLIPSE ETERNAL - 'Reign Of The Unholy Blackened Empire' from the ever-reliable Galy Records. First off, it's obvious from everything from the packaging, to the lyrics and band-member-declarations of hateful, Satan-lovin', misanthropic intent, to the music itself that these guys are deadly serious about what they are doing here. Either that, or they certainly wish to be seen as such by their target fanbase. ECLIPSE ETERNAL (including Voldamares/'tortured screams of beastial rage', Wulfgar/'the sound of a thousand feet marching in unison', Lord Abaddon/'ripping flesh, thunderous rumbling, and diabolical orchestrations', and Rose Sodomy/'live rumbling pulses')
play very 'Troo/Kvlt'-themed BM with all of the leather, spikes, and corpsepaint one would expect in a very-reminiscent-of-NAGLFAR-meets-DIMMU-BORGIR, second-tier sense of the term. Produced by none other than Glen Drover of MEGADETH/EIDOLON fame (who even contributes the 2nd and 4th solos on 'Awaken Ye Lords Of The Dark'), 'Reign Of The Unholy...' is actually some pretty decent, technically-proficient, and very listenable Black Metal. The problem however is that there is really nothing going on here that hasn't been done before by about two dozen similiar acts with very comparable levels of ability. There's nothing wrong per se with any of what is on offer here...just nothing that right either. It's all just very competent, very by-the-book, paint-by-numbers NAGLFAR/DIMMU-style BM likely only to cause waves amongst those who live and breathe for this sort of thing and nothing else. Why anyone else should care I don't know.
While the whole album thunders and shrieks along at an acceptable level, honestly only 'Awaken Ye Lords Of The Dark' (awesome 'Conan The Barbarian' sample by the way!) really jumps out at me as having any above-average hook or heft. This track should have been the yardstick by which the band measured the rest of the album. Great riff. Great Drover solos. Great track. Too bad nothing else really manages to capture the same magic. Oh well. Look, the real problem here has less to do with the band themselves than with their choice of genre as a whole. BM these days is - as stated - an aging and somewhat ailing Metal subgenre in severe need of reinvention and some sort of adrenaline-shot of creativity and originality if it is to continue to evolve and survive. Purists will argue that by its very nature, BM must staunchly and stubbornly refuse to change, for to do so will somehow compromise the integrity of the form. I disagree.
One listen to ENSLAVED's phenomenal 'Isa' by example will stand as testament to the fact that BM can - with thought and innovation - progress as boldly forward as any other Metal subgenre without losing any of its original intent and vision. As it stands in the case of ECLIPSE ETERNAL, all of the elements are there for the band to rise head and shoulders above the rest of the pack; i.e. technical ability, a decent sense of songcraft, and an obvious passion for the form. However, until they choose to 'step outside of the box' so to speak, I daresay they will be remembered only as one of many black-clad fish in a much larger sea of Black Metal behemoths.
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