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May 17, 2012 |
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01. Behind Tomorrow
02. Death's Call
03. In Despair For My Sins
04. Godsend
05. Second Life
06. Within My World
07. Act Of Fate
08. On Bitter Wings
09. Fallen Virtue
10. At Your Hands
11. A Face In The Crowd
12. Wither
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ETERNAL OATH (Petri Tarvainen/guitar, Joni Mäensivu/vox, Peter Nagy/guitar, Peter Wendin/bass, Ted Jonsson/drums, and Stefan Norgren/keyboards) are a young Swedish act whose noses have been firmly pressed against the proverbial grindstone since somewherez around 1991 or so, who have most recently signed to the hard-working and increasingly impressive Black Lodge label. Playing what can best be described as a mid-90's-style Gothic/Death Metal hybrid very reminiscent of the 'Golden Age' of what I have termed 'Frostcore'; ala 'Tales...'-era-AMORPHIS/PARADISE LOST/MY DYING BRIDE/ANATHEMA, etc. ...these young Swedes are now at album #3 with 'Wither', following hot on the heels of 02's 'Righteous', 98's 'Through The Eyes Of Hatred', and prior to that, the '96 EP debut 'So Silent'.
So then, let's cut to the chase shall we? Okay. What you get on 'Wither' is essentially the expected mix of guttural/clean 'operatic' vox laid overtop of a mournfully melodic, very Scandinavian wall of guitar/keyboardwork very obviously steeped in the Gothenburg school of Metal thought, with a fairly solid and competent rhythm/percussion spine keeping the affair planted firmly in its workboots. There are one or two other elements at play here and there; i.e. male choirs on a couple'a' tracks that work to decent enough effect, but essentially that's the recipe we've got cookin' here. Is this a good thing or bad? That's a tough one. Probably neither. More accurately, a bit of both. The really unfortunate aspect to this album however is the timing. Stylistically speaking, what rumbles forth from the speakers on 'Wither' is a thing that has been heard far too many times before by far too many comparable acts for me to really care anymore.
I mean, again, this is obviously a more than talented and capable bunch to be sure, but sadly, they've chosen to arrive at their particular Metal party of choice at the metaphorical '11th hour' so to speak. At this point, the sun is peeking over the horizon, the kegs are tapped, everyone's pretty much had enough and guys are starting to stagger home in groaning droves. Y'know what I'm saying? If this had been released in say '95-'97, it would have served a purpose. At this point all it manages to do is evoke fond memories of a time when such fare was unique, new, original, and most importantly...exciting. I realize I sound like one jaded dick and a half by saying all of this, but the simple, honest truth of the matter is that there's very little going on here that Metal fans who have been immersed in the genre's musical exports of the last decade or so haven't heard like, a gazillion times already. Really.
If you're already well acquainted with ETERNAL OATH's aforementioned obvious influences, not to mention the entire discographies of everyone from AT THE GATES, to IN FLAMES, to SOILWORK, to DARK TRANQUILLITY, and so on, and so on...then man, unless you seriously need to own EVERYTHING that even remotely fits that overall template, I just can't imagine what the motivation would be to drop one's last two $10 bills on 'Wither'.
Again - to reiterate - ETERNAL OATH are a pretty damned good band doing what they do pretty damned well. Within the confines of their chosen subgenre they are obviously an act who deserve to command a certain degree of respect. Thing is though, from the outside looking (and listening) in, there just isn't enough going on that is either boldly interesting enough, or thoughtfully original enough to hold my interest. As I said earlier though, if frosted Swedish flakes of melodic Gothic Death Metal are your be-all/end-all of musical existence, then by all means seek 'Wither' out as it is definitely up your alley. Everyone else...well, it's not bad, buuut...you get the picture.
In conclusion, I actually feel a little bad about the lukewarm grading on this one, despite my feeling that it is also a fair and accurate one. It's always hard to be so critically objective - harshly so, even - when it's so obvious that a band are doing something they love, and well at that, yet still lack that special, intangible 'something' to grant their particular Frankenstein's monster that much needed electric charge of vitality and dynamic impetus that pushes it heads and shoulders above the rest of the pack. But in this case, that's just the way the cookie has crumbled. So I don't expect to be getting any Christmas cards from ETERNAL OATH. A pity, that. Had we met earlier things might have been different.
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