Into Eternity – The Sirens
Album Review By Rainer Kerber
The Canadians of Into Eternity have a long history. The band was founded in 1998, a year later released their self-titled debut album. With their debut Into Eternity could impress so much that they could sign a contract with the German label Century Media. Under this label the re-release was published in 2000. Four more albums followed. Singer Stu Block left the band in 2013 because his new job at Iced Earth (2011) cost him too much time. So, singer Amanda Kiernan (The Order of Chaos) first jumped in as a live singer. Since 2013 she is a permanent member of Into Eternity. With her on the microphone the sixth studio album “The Sirens” was recorded now.
With about 1 3/4 minutes of contemplation, the title song of the album starts. Quiet piano and string sounds can be heard before Into Eternity rocks on and (new) singer Amanda Kiernan lets her unique voice sound. Whether growls, powerful clear vocals, she has many vocal facets. From the punchy guitars, bass or drums they cannot be pushed into the background. Many melody and rhythm changes characterize the sound of the Canadians. Banging riffs are replaced by hectic-sounding but filigree guitar solos. But not only Amanda’s voice can be heard on the album, also bassist Troy Bleich, guitarist Tim Roth and her predecessor Stu Block sing and growl on this album. “Sandstorm” starts then quietly with acoustic and clean guitars. But here too it goes on prog-typical. Amanda screams again the soul from her body. But Into Eternity can be different too. Just listen to the album’s power ballad, “Nowhere Near”. Only at the end of the song is the prog orientation to be heard again. For me the absolute highlight, however, is “Fukushima”. Although the instrumentation is again prog-typically coined by hectic guitar riffs, but especially in the choruses you can hear the feeling for beautiful melodies. Even the growls sound quite melodic here. As the album began, it ends as well. With the contemplative and soulful outro “The Scattering of Ashes”, in which again acoustic guitars and subtle strings dominate and almost caress the vocals.
“The Sirens” is certainly not for everyone. But if you put yourself in the middle of this Prog-Metal-typical album, you will find a lot of musical subtleties. Sometimes I would want a somewhat less hectic instrumentation, such as in Fukushima. And you can certainly argue, whether the about five and a half minutes of contemplation even fit to the rest of the album. In my opinion, yes. This clearly shows the musical diversity of the band.
Into Eternity – Fringes of Psychosis: https://youtu.be/V5rOJADB4GE
Lineup
Tim Roth – Guitar. Vocals
Matt Cuthbertson – Guitar
Troy Bleich – Bass, Vocals
Bryan Newbury – Drums
Amanda Kiernan – Vocals
Label: Self distributed
Out: October 26th 2018
Playing time: 50:01
Track list:
- The Sirens
- Fringes of Psychosis
- Sandstorm
- Devoured by Sarcopenia
- This Frozen Hell
- Nowhere Near
- Fukushima
- The Scattering of Ashes
Rating : 7.5/10
MHF Magazine/Rainer Kerber
