Review Summary: This album moves the soul, going from strong blackened folk metal, to gentle and calming acoustic and folk passages. The production is excellent, it is a symphony of nature and power.
I am not a big fan of black or folk metal. I do know of
Bathory and I've heard the album Blood Fire Death. This album is heralded as the first Viking/folk metal album. It is quite an achievement in my opinion. Like many bands that have “pioneered” a genre, the likely hood of a band being equal or even close to said band is extremely low, if not almost impossible. If you haven’t guessed it by now, Askival, the project by Tuagh IS the band that has managed to almost gain equal status to Blood Fire Death with the album Eternity. I haven’t listened to a lot of other Viking/folk metal, but Askival is a band I can listen to and enjoy. I wish I could shake this mans hand, because this is an album that is has risen up and broken through the barrier of generic folk/Viking metal and give Blood Fire Death a run for its money.
One of my friends asked me about this band. I said they were black metal with a lot of folk integrated into the songs. He responded "Oh, so it’s boring." I can't remember what I said back to him, but that is not true. This is not something you can really mosh to, or head bang a lot. It’s an album to listen too. Nowadays music is just something people play and then go and do something else. This album requires one to concentrate and focus on it. If you don't, it won't sound as good as one might think.
Now, there are so many good things about this album. The samples, the vocals, the guitars, the folk instruments, they all blend together perfectly. The production is very good. I wish I could here the bass guitar a bit more, but it’s understandable. There is so much going on here, Tuagh wanted to make everything decipherable. I am very impressed with the production, it really could not be any better.
I was expecting more black metal, but if it was anymore harsh it would have ruined this albums atmosphere. The vocals are good. They aren't the standard high-pitched screams, but rather a grunted howl. It is one that incites power, strength and pride. It is the voice of a man who has ventured and fought for the things he loves. The softer whispers are great. They compliment the acoustic passages wonderfully, not just added because it would make the song sound arcane and cryptic. It adds emphasis and listening to these acoustic parts puts ones mind at peace.
When I heard the female vocals on Sorrow of the Sun I was surprised. Women have great voices, and Tuagh obviously knew this and decided to add them to make this album even better! Bonus points for that. There was great harmonization between Tuagh and the female guest, Runahild of Eliwagar. I miss hearing some real singing outside of my schools chorus and my music theory class at school. I wish I could do clean vocals as well as these two.
The album moves in a graceful fashion. The longer songs are actual songs. The shorter ones are usually soft, melodic pieces and are mainly fillers and transitions for the other songs. They add a lot to the album. When one goes from the song Forged in the Fires of Alba, to a cascade of fluttering birds, soft wind instruments blowing and the feeling of nature surrounding you, it works wonders. It's like going from an epic battle; A battle where you take hold of your long sword and shield, and fight beside your comrades, to sitting down at the trunk of a grand tree, and experiencing the world around you. This is an album you would remember in its entirety. The songs are not overly memorable, but they are all very good. It’s an album you would start at the intro, and finish at the conclusion.
Like many other bands this one uses a drum machine. This doesn’t matter since the drums are just for rhythm and time keeping purposes. I just wish there was some variation in the drumming. If this isn't a drum machine then it is fine, but I am pretty sure it is, and it disappoints me. There are little to no drum fills, there is nothing creative. It is mostly double bass, snare, hi-hat, and crash cymbal. That is so boring to me; I just wish Tuagh had a bit more creativity with the drums. Compared to everything else, which is exceptional, the lackluster drums seem to lag behind. It doesn't affect the album very much, but hearing some diversity is something I would like.
There are some guitar solos, but they are slow, and the tone on it is not something I really enjoyed, especially since the solos are around 2-3 minutes long at a crack. It’s nice to hear them, but I feel they were just fillers, used to extend and make the album longer then is needs to be.
I wish I had a physical copy of this. I even enjoy the album art. It is really nice. I am glad there is someone with strong songwriting skills out there making great music. Tuagh didn’t do anything new or unique, but the formula he used was strong, and the way he put it together emphasized this. There is an epic and magical atmosphere. It makes one yearn for an answer to life. It is strong and powerful, but not harsh and violent. Overall, this album is a work of art from start to finish. I have not heard many bands that could do what Tuagh has done with Eternity. The only thing one can do is wait, and search for something that is equal to this masterpiece.
