Monday, March 2, 2015

Album Review: "Remnants of Immortality" by Eternal Solstice

Remnants of Immortality
Today we journey all the way to Holland in The Netherlands.

I love that it's The Netherlands. It makes it seem much more epic, kind like how we're The United States.

When Americans think of Holland, we picture wooden shoes and windmills, but somehow when I listen to this album, I'm not thinking about that picture.

Eternal Solstice is an underground death metal band who have lain low for about 15 years before releasing some new music on split EPs in 2011 and 2013.

In 2015, they have finally returned with their first full length LP since 1997's Demonic Fertilizer. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say welcome back to the wider world.

Remnants of Immortality
As this is an extreme metal album, we can safely assume the guitars are thick. The vocals are demonic sounding. The drums never stop and never quit.

What sets Remnants of Immortality apart from any of Eternal Solstice's contemporaries is the amount of melody they put into the songs.

There are crushing guitar riffs, but they also infuse a bit of guitar noodling to keep them fresh.

The guitar solos are slightly unusual. Like the rhythms, they're not overly fast. No one's trying to win a fastest guitar slinger contest on this album. The melodies, the dueling guitars, and the apparent blues influence make this a nice change of pace than standard death metal flash solos.

The bass guitar is very full in the mix. For some reason this is not the case for most death metal bands. All it does is add an extra layer of thickness and heaviness to the riffing.

Of course, the vocals are growled and are bear an influence from grindcore legends, Napalm Death. There's also a goodly deal of backup vocals giving a nice big chorus effect that's never overused.

This album has some of the best production value in death  metal. I have been noticing the mixing in the genre has been improving. I'm not sure if that's because of improved recording technology or a movement away from the Tampa Bay sound, but it's great.

Release: 3/10/15
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Dark Descent Records
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