Pestiferous Hymns - Rev. I-I-XXXIII

All the black metal fans around the world have learned the sound of the pure black metal from the Norwegian early 90s black metal revolution, and since then there are many bands around the world try to give a lot of efforts to keep the classic sound of the raw black metal alive, one of these bands is the German black metal band "Eternity". Though there are many black metal bands that try to record black metal music without inspiration, there are many bands are full of visions and ideas, and here is the full-length album "Pestiferous Hymns" is sending some shivers of fresh visions and inspiration.

When I first opened the album's first song, I really got that epic feeling that this album will be a great experience for every black metal fan on the face of the earth, the great performance of the guitars and the insanity of the vocals reminded me of the legendary album "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" for the Norwegian black metal pioneers Mayhem, and the roughness of the production that reflects a real solid sound reminded me of the successful album "Adimiron Black" for the Norwegian Gehenna. The sound that the German "Eternity" created in this album is original and pure though there are many clear influences in the songwriting, because the dark inspiration of the members kept on running from the first track till the end of the album, and the fierce black metal riffs erupted like a volcano through the structure of the tracks.

The band started the album with a brutal journey of intensity and darkness, because the amazing tracks "Down to the Southern Abyss" and "Temple of Flesh" and "...like 1000 Suns" show a huge dexterity and mighty efforts, the darkness of the melodies invoked the classic black metal albums. The same epic feelings kept on flowing from these tracks. Sometimes the tempo decreases to create deeper atmosphere. The modern mastering technics have been avoided here because the total sound meant to be classic and raw, the sound of the distortion and the tune of the guitar strings are really epic and traditional, and as a fan of the old black metal movement I can easily fall in love with this production.

Some tracks like "of Satan's Blood" shows another black metal direction for the band, a direction full of speed black metal riffs and a sledgehammer blasting drumming, this track reminded me of the band "Dark Funeral" and specially the album "The secrets of the black art". The flowing volcanic rage of this record presented the admirable black metal tracks "Reborn Through the Flame" and "Waiting in the Abyss", tracks full of fast and mid-paced riffs that surround the drumming perfectly, with short slow guitar solos appeared behind the wall of guitars made these track dynamic and full of visions. The instrumental "Black Clouds on a Psychic Horizon" ends this album in an epic way, the acoustic guitar at the beginning of the track that covers the echoes of the vocalist reminded me of the atmosphere that have been always created in the tracks of the legendary metal band Bathory, then the distorted rhythm guitars stepped into the structure of the track slowly, and then the lead guitars captured the whole atmosphere to make the whole sound firm and melodic, the beauty of the atmosphere is very memorable and epic which makes this track one of my best black metal instrumental tracks.

If you are aware of the modern black metal movement, you will notice that the influences of the classic black metal movement are slightly decreasing in their songwriting, but here is the band "Eternity" is trying to relive all the classic black metal influences again with the grim full-length album "Pestiferous Hymns – Rev. I-I-XXXIII". If you are a fan of the old Mayhem and the classic Darkthrone and the Marduk, then you have to give this album a listen because it contains a lot of exciting and epic elements. If you are a fan of the pure black metal movement of the early 90s, then this CD will be one of your best black metal albums of this year.

Originally written for:
www.jorzine.com

It is remarkable that after all these years of listening to black metal, I am still discovering groups whose career dates back to the 1990s. This is the case of Eternity, a Thuringia band that spreads evil music for almost twenty years and counting! For my defence, I note that their epic discography really begins in 2004 with the release of a first long-play, after ten years of demos and other split-CDs. But I remain honest, I knew nothing about the band before getting my hands on Pestiferous Hymns - Rev. II-XXXIII (2012), whose title explicitly refers to an Apocalypse passage, book two, verse twenty-three ("And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. ")

Album starts pretty well. Down to the Southern Abyss remembers Watain’s firsts songs, with riffs and atmosphere, but the sauce spoils from Temple of Flesh. The slow and boring air of this song immediately breaks the momentum developed with the first title. These six minutes seem twice as long and I get the habit of skipping the tune ... Like 1000 Suns is a better song, though pretty classical in form. However, …of Satan's Blood ... is the album’s centerpiece. Catchy and well written, it is also - oddly - the shortest song. Too bad this vein is not further exploited. There was something interesting. Reborn Through the Flame (Against the Creation) is a rather ordinary song, but it's Waiting in the Abyss that catches my ear from the first listen: I am absolutely sure I have heard its intro somewhere. After a persistent search, I found! This is a true copy of The Wanderer first riffs, an instrumental song that closes Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk (1997). This founding shocks me. Tribute? Plagiarism? Black Clouds on a Psychic Horizon ends the album with a slow, desperate atmosphere and a judicious use of keyboards and classical instruments.

Border between homage and plagiarism is strictly thin and porous. Eternity members can hardly argue that they did not know the song they copied, the latter belonging to one of the greatest dark metal classic. Even apart from this, pestiferous Hymns - Rev. II-XXXIII remains an average album. It contains some good ideas, but poorly exploited, which is surprising for a band with so many years of experience. It is perhaps normal that I have never heard of them before today. 5/10