Krieg Korner - Your Weekly Guide to Heavy

Band: Eternal Tears of Sorrow

Album: Before the Bleeding Sun

Genre: Extreme Power Metal

Eternal Tears of Sorrow is a Symphonic Extreme Power Metal band hailing from Finland. While that classification is somewhat of a mouthful, it is a fitting title; making judgments about a band just by its genre alone is a stereotypical way of blandishing its being. That being said, and after giving their new album Before the Bleeding Sun a good listen, one will definitely understand their title. Originating in 1991, EToS released their first full album, Sinner's Serenade, in 1997, and three more albums before disbanding in 2003. In 2005, with the drummer as the only returning original member, the band reformed to release Before the Bleeding Sun. With this new lineup, they fail to capture their desired original sound.
The first song, “Sweet Lilith of My Dreams,” starts with some catchy keyboard riffs and continues on to a standard galloping pace dominated by guitar. A good song for the first track, it keeps the listener locked in for at least that one intro song. The chorus spawns the return of the keyboard riff before a very synth-laden bridge. While talking about this particular genre, yes, there are surprisingly many Symphonic Extreme Power Metal bands, and keyboards usually do not play a major role in a lot of them; EToS, though, use their 'boards to give a very commercial, packaged feeling to its music, mainly due to their overuse. “Another Me” also earns a favorable impression. Very true to the genre, guitars, drums, and vocals control the song and not keyboards; the drumming and guitars are tight and very well in sync. “Red Dawn Rising” invites vocalist Marco Hietala of Nightwish and Tarot to lend her voice; her vocals grace the backing and complement the hash singing, however the song reminds one of a U2 single put on fast-forward through a speaker wrapped in cotton and immersed in Sunny-D (We believe in the power of original analogies here at the Attraction).
The remainder of Before the Bleeding Sun is a combination of mediocrity and repetition. All of the songs sound the same as “Another Me,” which while good in and of itself, was still nothing special compared to what else is out there, and the same song repeating about seven times is painful, no matter how good that song is (cough cough 'Hey Ya' cough cough). The only break are the epics of “Sakura No Rei” and “Sinister Rain,” which are completely awesome with a very big feel and diverse melodic path. But it still does not make up for all the other dismal, disappointing tracks.
While band reunions can bring joy and sonic pleasure. Eternal Tears of Sorrow tainted their otherwise strong legacy with a poorly done album with a feel of selling out.

Official Band Site: http://www.eternaltears.info/

Submitted by Jake T.