At this point, I would like to present one of the absolute highlights of the year, even though its release was several months ago. We are talking about the debut album by the doom death metal band Eternal Darkness from Eskilstuna, Sweden, which was released last July on the tasteful Singaporean label Pulverised Records. The band, whose ranks include former members of such illustrious bands as Svartsyn, Unpure, and The Black—or rather, used to include, as I'll explain in a moment—was founded way back in 1990, released several demos, and finally, in 1992, a 7“ single with two tracks, whose cover, incidentally, also decorates Dimmu Borgir's debut album "For All Tid", published three years later. In August 1992, the band recorded an album entitled "Twilight in the Wilderness", which was supposed to be released by Necropolis Records but never saw the light of day.
In 1995, Eternal Darkness broke up, not unlikely due to the murder of their then guitarist Jarmo Kuurola in the same year. Incidentally, the other guitarist at the time, Toni Pietilä, died much later in 2014, so it seemed that no good fortune was in store for the band, but what else could you expect from a band called Eternal Darkness?
In 2006, Morbid Wrath Records released a compilation CD called “Total Darkness,” which also contains almost all of their previous recordings, including most of the tracks from the previously unreleased album (some of which had already appeared on a previous promo release). The irony of the story is that the band broke up at practically the same moment their debut album was released, 35 years after the band was formed— hence my comment at the beginning.
But let's get to the music, which is truly impressive, so that I believe it will soon be considered a classic of doom death metal. The eight tracks on the album, which incidentally features a fantastic, stylish black-and-white cover, have a total playing time of just under 40 minutes. During this time, the listener is transported to a dark world from which there is no escape. Only darkness, despair, and death. And if, hypothetically, there were any light at the end of the tunnel, it would be an oncoming train. In this sense, Eternal Darkness truly live up to their band name. “The Beyond,” the opening track of this dark medley, drives forward with heavy, slow riffs and dark death growls before a deeply sad and desperate guitar melody sets in, leaving behind a flashback of grief and melancholy before the final end. “Pungent Awakening” opens with a death metal-heavy, repetitive, simple but all the more effective riff. This piece doesn't need any major variations; with its simplicity, it crushes everything, even though a mournful guitar melody kicks in again at the end. “Funeral,” incidentally probably the best song title for this kind of music, is a driving instrumental piece that skillfully varies the tempo and is, so to speak, the most positive track on the album, if you can say that in this context. After “Funeral” comes “Grief”—an impressive mid-tempo piece interspersed with sludge elements, with Janne Heikkinen's vocals fitting perfectly here as well. In the middle section, it becomes very slow and heavy before the song prepares for the end with a combination of vocals and deeply sad guitar harmonies. It's like a last look back before the final struggle against the inevitable end. So, and now we've come to the end. Because “Into the Crematory” is just a deep black doom track with a driving atmosphere. The worst is basically over. At the end of the song, it becomes melodic once again, with elegiac arcs ending the song, accompanied by a few subtle synthesizers in the background. “When Life Ends” is similarly structured, caught between driving sludge riffs and slow, dark moments. “Death Above All” starts with a bone-dry bass solo before plaintive clean vocals kick in. Here, the forefathers of the genre, Black Sabbath, shine through in every corner, only the vocals are naturally much heavier. Finally, the concluding “Til Death” leaves the listener confused and bewildered, depressed by tormenting melodies and viscous, agonizingly slow sounds into pure nothingness.
