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Metal/Prog Metal CD Reviews

Eternal Descent Losing Faith Review by Gary Hill This CD is quite good, but it’s not great. It features an epic metal type of sound and they pull it off quite well. The only problem is, too much of this sounds too similar. It’s all a bit clichéd. That said, the vocals are wonderful. The songs are all catchy. It’s just lacking a bit in the variety department – and the uniqueness department. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2008 Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Into Darkness The sounds of a storm lead this off and then keyboards rise up. Soon other instruments join and this feels kind of like some European epic metal. The vocals enter and it has more of a Goth meets pop rock texture. The chorus on this is extremely catchy.

Whispers This one doesn’t rock out quite as much as the last one. That said, it’s also more accessible. We get a tasty guitar solo on this one, but we also get a slightly weird (but cool) operatic vocal segment.

Black Blood They pound in with a heavier nu-metal feel here. The vocals and other elements bring in the feeling of some of the European epic metal bands. The extended guitar solo here is especially strong.

Race Against the End Sound effects start this off (along with some ambient keys). Then a techno type rhythmic structure enters. Before the vocals join, though, this shifts out to a more nu-metal motif. The guitar sol on this one starts in a retro hard rock style – a bit like Hendrix, but then evolves into something more modern. There is a cool break down section later.

Trials This one just seems more successful than some of the others. It’s a lot faster paced and purely metallic. I like it a lot.

City Falls For some reason this reminds me a bit of Hawkwind. Still, in other ways it doesn’t differ much from the rest of the disc. Keyboards close this out in fine fashion.

Our Own Devils This rises up in an intriguing fashion. A noisy guitar is melded with keyboards and other effects in an almost Vanilla Fudge like way. We get a little church organ melded with screaming guitar at points, too. All of this is traded in on a more standard Eternal Descent epic metal type of sound for the song proper. The guitar work on this one is especially tasty, though. This is one of the standout cuts on the disc. A cool, dark sounding keyboard segment ends this.

Angels in the Architecture They don’t break any molds on this, but it’s one of the stronger tunes on show here. The vocal dominated mellower segment is nice and the guitar solo section is quite meaty.

Endless “Endless” is a good tune, taken by itself, but the formula is starting to get old by this point. Of course, the guitar solo section is still pretty cool as is the mellower instrumental motif that ends the piece.

Broken Remains Now, this is cool – and the change we were waiting for. It’s nearly progressive rock – in fact on the right CD it would be considered fully prog. It’s got neo-classical aspects to it and is a cool, moody instrumental that, at times, turns towards world music.

Déjà Vu They definitely saved the best for last. This is another that’s very progressive rock in nature. It’s also extremely dramatic. At times the vocals remind me a bit of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album – you know the female vocals.

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