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Eternal Reign - Forbidden Path


*
=Staff's pick

Gate To Infinity (intro)
Light The Light
Into My Own Hands
Les Rêves En Plastique
The Final Call
Edge Of The World*
Forbidden Path
Losing Ground*
Set The Sails
Nightstalker*
Ten Seconds In


Genre Power Metal
Dirk Stühmer
Vocals
Tracks 11
Michael Sebastian
Guitar
Runningtime 48 Min.
Torsten Fünfhaus
Guitar
Label SPV
Jörg Hassel
Bass
Release 21 Feb. 2005
Andre Genuit
Drums
Country Germany
Björn Meyer
Keyboards
Similar artists Iron Maiden, Iced Earth

Eternal Reign is in spite of their German origin mostly influenced by US metal. That means a lot of smooth melodies in guitars, keyboards and song. But it also means not too hard and all too polished in the production. Dirk Stühmer is a great vocalist who uses a broad spectrum of his voice, but who also lacks some exciting character in his tone. The two guitarists play with almost irritating tightness and timing. The drums are anonymous, and is there a bassist at all? It all melts together in a perfect, but boring, sound.

The album does not ignite until the little heavier riff of Edge Of The World starts to pound. Here we also get the most memorable chorus. Forbidden Path is the more progressive track, that seems to be almost standard on every metal album today. Another song I remember a bit clearer is Losing Ground, where Stühmer does a superb imitation of Geoff Tate. Not one of my favourite singers at all, but at least the falsetto verses breaks the pattern a bit on this album. The melody stands stronger on that track as well. Set The Sails on the other hand is just an everyday metal song with a painfully weak chorus. Nightstalker delivers a melodic chorus with surprisingly tight balls, and manages to save some face in the eleventh hour.

Ten Seconds In is a cover of the old (US metal legends) Breaker's song. Well, not that much of a song to cover really - a standard metal song with a quite repetitive chorus. After having listen to this record I am quite untouched. It is played with musical precision, but without rock 'n' roll in heart and soul.

Production
Vocals
Compositions

5

7

6

 
Summary



6 chalices of 10 - David

Related links:

www.eternal-reign.de