This is the debut of the Irish Pagan / Black Metallers ETERNAL HELCARAXE and a first acquintance with these lads. "Against All Odds" features rather melodic and almost friendly tunes that are blessed by a clear and strong production. Good part is that you’ll get things packed in suitable speed with lots of double bass and variable vocal delivery in a not unobtrusive length to get the stream flowing, done by very capable musicians who have a good nose for when to slow down or break things apart with acoustic passages. Bad part is that some melodies are too common for this genre and even jumped out as weak. Some even meant a step away from extreme Metal, due to their light caliber. This prevented this album from becoming great, because there is a certain appeal to each one of these eight tracks. A prefect example for this would be a song like ´Echoes Through Our Blood´. The riffs in the first minute are pretty much boring, but luckily the band get things together to sound way more convincing heading towards the end. In a nutshell, it sounds like a mix of ENSLAVED, ENTHRONED, AMON AMARTH and THURISAZ. Still it´s an impressive debut that I would advice you to check out first through the links below, if you’re into the mentioned bands. www.eternalhelcaraxe.net, www.facebook.com/eternalhelcaraxe, www.officialabyssrecords.com