Into Eternity - Into Eternity (album review)
Posted on: March 31, 2009, at 09:57:26pm

So, I wasn't going to do this album review mainly because I didn't expect to have the album. It's rare enough for there to be only one album of it on all of ebay. Anyway, it's basically Into Eternity's first album and it was individually produced before they got signed onto anything. So, I'll be listening to it for the first time with this review, so yeah. Stick around for when I edit it all up.


The tracklist is as follows:
Torn
Sorrow
Left Behind
The Modern Day
A Frozen Escape
Behind The Disguise
Holding Onto Emptiness
Into Eternity
Speak Of The Dead
Silence Through Virtue

Sounds pretty bleak... I can already tell that I'll like it. I'd like to apologize for any random spelling errors I make in advance because I'm going to be typing as I listen with no pauses.

1) Torn (4/5):
Starts with a strange set of voices going, what sounds like a fire burning, and other vague awesomeness going on. And then a cry of despair. And then the music comes in with an awesome drum beat going followed by equally awesome guitar and bass. It sounds vaguely futuristic, but... well as I was typing this a synth-alterred voice came in and shattered whatever else I was going to say. The growls beneath it aren't that good, but are understandable and improve as the song progresses. The clean vocals are obviously changed, but sound good. So far I would have never guessed that this was independantly produced. The repeating riff going on is quite nice. It's not a standout track so far, but a really good one still. which is up to Into Eternity's standards. I also like the fade out growling that they do throughout the track. I think the one thing I don't like is the random breaks in the sound that have occured twice. They just stopped the track and jumped to a different tempo rather than meshing it all together. It just doesn't seem to work in the track.

2) Sorrow (3.5/5):
Another nice little intro here with some piano for about 10 seconds before a growl and some riffing came in. I'm really liking the synth-alterred voices now. They just seem to work. They fit the mood more than the growling does, but when both are used it seems to work. Still, the meshing of the two styles of music is a bit rougher than their later albums, but there's a lot of emotion in the clean vocals and.. GUITAR SOLO. Sorry about that, but I'm typing and it shattered my thoughts. It's a nice solo, but it doesn't have too much emotion in it. Still, it's a good track so far. I think the best parts are the random little riffs you sort of hear in the back of it all. And the screams and growls that are in the background. I think the vocals could have used a bit more volume in the track though. The screams this are more like metalcore than black metal in this album so far. It's a bit different, but not bad. Oh, and the outro is quite interesting on this track.

3) Left Behind (3.75/5):
We've got a bit of Spanish sounding guitar and more clean vocals with several different vocalists making up a staggered chorus. It's nice. The transition to the electric guitar could have been better, but it's still sounding good. I still wish the vocals were louder though. I like it a lot more than the song of the same name by Slipknot though. I'm getting a subliminal sort of vibe from the vocals now and it's starting to grow on me. It feels like the vocals are worming their way through my head rather than me actually hearing them. This track is like the last one... but different. Also, no growling in it for those of weak ears.

4) The Modern Day (4/5):
It begins with some odd talking. "Are you ok?" "No man, I'm pretty [stifled squealing]f*cking far from ok..." And BAM there's the riff. It kind of cascades up and down like a mini-scale run comprised of three notes in an arpeggio or something. It sounds pretty ok. And now the vocals are here. They're sounding better. This is definitely starting to grow on me already. Oh, and because of the title I'm gonna be looking up the lyrics later. There's a weird growl going on now. I kind of like it. The vocals are getting louder though which is a good/bad thing. This song isn't subliminal like the others though, so it's probably a good thing. Oh, and the harmonies are starting to shine through now. I think the black metal screams work a lot better than these metalcore ones though with the growling and all. Hmm. It's a very good independantly produced album thus far though especially as an initial album. I'm definitely listening to this when I go skiing tomorrow. The growling's gotten better now. There's some weird techno-ish stuff going on in the vocals near the end that I like. No special outro on this one.

5) A Frozen Escape (4.5/5):
Begins with some rainfall and light thunder. And now some more monologue stuff. "Difficult to harm these people not selected to build weight onto another day." Or something like that. I'll look it up later. It then enters with a nice little chord and vocal build up. The guitar then starts doing arpeggios and the vocals are really shining through in it. This is definitely supposed to be the emotional track and thus far it is succeeding. They're doing some nice stuff with added echoes in the voices and some synth stuff going on as well. It's really... pretty for lack of a better word. I really like it. Not much more to say except that the drums came in and I think a guitar solo began. More talking interjecteed in there for about one second while the solo's going. It's a powerful song, but I'm not sure what it's saying yet. I'll find out later.

6) Behind the Disguise (4.5/5):
Begins with a gunshot (or something) and then some heavy riffing. And some synth in the back that I'm liking. It's now got some really nice guitar/synth going. I'm really liking this. BASS INTERLUDE! Enter the vocals which are strained internal growls that are going quite nicely. Now we've got some clean vocals that are nice, but lacking in the real voice of the last track. Still, they mesh with the guitar nicely. Hmm. It's being a little repetitive, but wait, there's the solo. It's much better than the one featured a while back. And it came at just the right time. And now some more of that synth/guitar dual riffing that I like. With blast beats too. And random soloing for the outro. It's another really good track here.

7) Holding Onto Emptiness (4.75/5):
That title reminds me of the lyrics in Nothing, a song from their fourth album (if you include this one). Anyway, it begins with an organ or synth or something that sounds rather nice. Enter the drums. It reminds me of the Halo 2 soundtrack... sort of. Now there's bass. It sounds like... like I'm walking through a valley shrouded in mist and mystery with a heavy atmosphere of awe... or something. And enter the death growl and guitar. It's a lot more powerful with that synth still in the back. It's a very interesting track. It could easily be the best on the album at this rate. The clean vocals are once again powerful with the help of the bass and synth. The guitar is a lot better than in the other tracks. This is probably going to be my favorite track on the album. Enter soloing. Again, better than the previous tracks. This track is rather emotional too, but not overtly so. Oh, and it's got a fake ending! I love those. I really like the weird synth things they're doing in this song. It fades in and out at times. A very good track. Very good. No real big outro.

8) Into Eternity (5/5):
Again with the pleasent intro. It's very peaceful. Almost relaxed even. The guitar faded out and the vocals came in and it reentered. This is another very moving song. Another big highlight too thus far. More emotional than A Frozen Escape was too. I'm really liking it. Also, I'm catching a lot more of the lyrics in this song than the others. And the electric guitar has entered, but not lost any of the emotion present in the song. I'm really, really, liking this song. Hm. Very good track. And abrupt change to spanish themed guitar without losing the emotion. This is going quite well.

9) Speak Of The Dead (3/5):
It begins with some muffled coughing and the words "And now it begins." or something like that and then launches head first into some heavy riffing. And now it's gotten all rhythmic and strangely uplifting. I think there's some synth piano in the background at times, but that might just be my mind wandering. Either way, the vocals have reduced in power and the guitar is decent. The riff is kind of getting repetitive again... I notice that you can hear the drums more on this track than the others. The growls in this one are more cookie monster-ish than demonic in this one. Oh, but that synth changed growl was awesome. Oh, and the synth solo is better than the guitar one in this song. But it didn't last long enough... This is an odd song. You'll have to listen to it to really understand why I said that. The vocals are really in the background on this song, but the instrumentalization isn't that good. Not a good follow up to Into Eternity.

10) Silence Through Virtue (3/5):
It begins with a pulsating bass drum and some nice synth with a bit of a hi-hat roll that leads up to some heavy staccato guitar riffing. It sounds nice and the blast beat that's come in strangely works with the vocals right now. The vocals are again closer to the forefront of the sound. Oh, and another BASS INTERLUDE! *Ahem* the growls came in kind of awkwardly, but they quickly left the vocals alone. There's a real emphasis on the drums in this song for some reason. BASS INTERLUDE 2! And the growls came in better this time. This song is getting across half-way. And the guitar solo isn't quite loud enough when it comes in, but that's quickly fixed. It's kind of nice. Growl vocal highlight right there 30 seconds from the end. It's deciding to end the album aggressively, but with a really soft synth ending.

This album started out ok, built up to a good song, and then an awesome song, and then faded into the iffiness again. It's still very good and hard to tell that it was a first album let alone an individually produced work. I'm gonna give it a 4/5 and it's easily worth the search for a copy of this album. It's only ever been released in Canada, so you'll have a bit of a hard time getting a copy of it, and good luck finding any of the songs anywhere. Anyone who wants to hear it will have to get the music from me I guess. Alas, that's all I have to say. I hope my spelling wasn't too bad in this.