Eternal Storm - From the Ashes

Eternal Storm are a melodic death metal band, following the school of post-2000 Dark Tranquillity. That's it, review is over. That's all that needs to be said. OK, you get the point, I'll continue. They've got the style down, with a relatively modern sound with a few nods to the older Gothenburg style while sounding firmly like something from the last decade, though thankfully without keyboards. They perform well, they've got the aesthetics and the style down, and they play it fairly well. It's competent, but it's completely lackluster - sounds nice while listening, but it goes in one ear and out the other. Monkey see, monkey do.

The earlier songs lean towards melodeath/metalcore, while the latter ones could fit in with any of the generic Finnish DT wannabes. There's a complete lack of character in the vocal performance and the guitar work borrows the forms, but none of the purpose. They open and close with some acoustic pieces which are adequately performed, but feel more like a backing to something than a piece which the focus is on. Both the performance and the production lack the emotional charge and feeling of the old Gothenburg bands where pieces like that carried the feeling of the album rather than feeling like nothing more than bookends. That's how the whole album feels, like they're copying other melodeath bands with no real direction nor purpose to it. It's precise and unadorned to a fault. It's upbeat and pop-tinged melodeath without a purpose to the melodies or any residual feeling of the darkness of death metal to it.

Technically adequate but absolutely soulless music. It's surface-deep and these guys just don't get it.

http://eternalstorm.bandcamp.com/