Astralborne ‘Eternity’s End’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Independent Release/Melodic Death Metal
Astralborne were formed following a short hiatus from Hammer Horde and during this break drummer Jayson Cessna and guitarist Derik Smith decided to expand on their musical horizons; joined by Paul Fuzinski from Blood of the Prophets on bass and vocals, the Ohio band were poised to release their debut album ‘Eternity’s End’.
As a band and debut album ‘Eternity’s End’ does not take a running million-mile leap away from what the members already know. Yes, there is a step away from the Viking themes of Hammer Horde and Metalcore undertones of Blood of the Prophets with Astralborne focusing on a more general melodic death metal theme. But, for ‘Eternity’s End’, it works exceptionally well having all the appeal of Amon Amarth, Hypocrisy and Kalmah whilst managing to stay fresh, avoiding the pit falls of a generic melodic death metal sound that can be seen in tracks such as ‘Transcendence of Flesh’, ‘Architect of Suffering’ and the colossal title track. These tracks work exceptionally well, doing their utmost best to remind the listener as to why they fell in love with the genre in the first place. However, the albums two instrumentals ‘Reflections’ and ‘Inglorious 20XX’ do little to add anything to the overall feel and wouldn’t be missed had they not been there.
‘Eternity’s End’ is a great place for this band to start and it is great to see a band developing a creative outlet from their main source. Here’s a thought, instead of listening to Arch Enemy who have been releasing the same record for fifteen years and debating endlessly with children about who is better Angela Gossow or Alissa White-Gluz, (the answer is neither, it’s Johan Liiva), listen to some excellent up and coming melodic death metal with ‘Eternity’s End’.
Rating : 80/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
