Eternal Autumn from Sweden…oh boy that brings back some memories. “The Storm” was released in 1998 and if my memory doesn’t play any tricks on me, 2 tracks of that album got pressed on an Ablaze Magazin sampler, something which happened more often with releases of Invasion Records and their sub-label Black Diamond Productions. I bought the album back in the day and still enjoying it. Strangely enough their second release “From the Eastern Forest” (2000) never got in my hands nor I can’t remember it was promoted by the (fan)zines I read around that time. Not long after that album the band got disbanded.
And like with many others, blood is thicker than water and Eternal Autumn came back together, enjoying the stories of the old days and jamming around. All this results in a new EP with some old school and melodic thrashy Death Metal with hints of Black Metal and Iron Maiden-harmonies (listen to “Midwinter Ravage”). When listening to the first two tracks I would just describe it as old Eternal Autumn with old Bewitched and a huge wink towards Iron Maiden. But then the mask falls off and “Shadowride” starts like a mid-tempo Unanimated track that could be from the “In the Light of Darkness” album. And although the track transforms into a more melodic song in the middle, the start and end sounds very promising. With “Sixth Hour” being a galloping and rockin’ musical approach of the first two songs, I’m curious what will be the musical direction on their next effort.
I’m not sure if this EP will be the demonstration of their upcoming musical activities, or a bit of search towards the right style, but if they are planning to go the Bewitched / Eternal Autumn way (“Behold the Death”) or the Unanimated / Eternal Autumn way (“Shadowride”), I think we will have a promising melodic Swedish Extreme Metal album in our hands. (Ricardo)
