Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Eteritus - Following The Ancient Path (2016)

Hailing from Poland, we have death metallers Eteritus here with their debut album. It's not all that long and it's definitely rough around the edges, but it seems to have the right idea, which is classic death metal. The production is definitely a bit thin though, which is my biggest issue with the album. It feels like all of the instruments have been constricted to a very tiny room, by which there are only slight bursts from the kit and vocal end by which to strengthen the performance. Greg's bass is pushed far to the back, which I think is a very noticeable issue here and takes away from the warmth that such a performance should have. It's just too cool for me, folks and that's where I find that I'm having a tough time getting into it. It's not that Nitro isn't pummeling the kit to literal death, or that frontman/guitarist Liam Tailor isn't belting out some of the most venomous barks I've heard in quite a while (because I'll give him that) as well as some rather capable melodies entwined within the mix. It's just that there's a constricting grain throughout this performance that is making it very hard for me to keep focused.

That being said, there's a definite effort being displayed here and I can't ignore that. This is only their first album after all and I can understand if it doesn't sound exactly perfect. These guys have the amount of skill needed for proper death metal and display that well enough here. It's nothing out of the ordinary, but it is definitely something that I would recommend giving a listen as there are those who will not be as anal rententive about the mix as I am. If we ignore the mix completely, there's a pretty solid death metal disc here that is representitive of that classic Swedish sound and that's what is most important. Eteritus have brought another slab of powerful death metal to old school heads and I'm sure they'll eat it up regardless.

(9 Tracks, 32:00)

7/10

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