In Aeternum
Curse Of Devastation
6.1
Synospis:
There is a reason long standing Swedish death/black metal acts like Lord Belial, Diabolical, Setherial, Sacramentum and In Aeternum never really got or get the recognition of their country mates like Necrophobic, Dark Funeral, Naglfar and Marduk.
Mediocrity.
Review:
Even armed with a shiny Tommy Tägtgren mix, Dan Swano mastering job, as well as a considerable discography going back over a decade, In Aeternum with their new four song EP, their first release since 2005's obscure Dawn of a New Aeon album, shows why they have never quite rubbed shoulders with the elite and will never be mentioned in the same breath as their bigger peers.
Four songs, sixteen minutes of nondescript, razor sharp, but forgetful blackened vitriol is on tap, and there’s not a single riff or blast you haven’t heard a hundred times before. Listen, I’m all for the creativity and originality being somewhat overrated, often preferring a tried and tested sound over forward thinking, but in the case of these four songs, it’s just blatantly obvious that In Aeternum just don’t have anything to offer the genre and deserve their relatively second tier status their whole career.
Mildly melodic, somewhat blistering, a few solos, some stern marches, rasped vocals and a whole lot of evil prose and Satanic themes make for a needless EP of black metal that, while certainly filling all the genre’s requisite elements, just seems like a paint by numbers effort. Even a redone version of “Reaper in Black” from 1999’s Forever Blasphemy album sounds tired, lacking the sheer tenacity of song writing chops of their far more famous country mates.
If it was 1999, I might be a little more excited about this band and this rather piecemeal offering, but as it stands I’ll stick with the genre's main players for now. And there’s a reason for that.
Excellence.
