The band of the moment remains… the band for moments to come! Not long after THE NIGHT ETERNAL returned from countless tours and festival performances – centered on “Fatale”, this previous album, which just doesn’t want to lose its charm, they recorded a new album almost unnoticed by the public. Musically, the band is incredibly blessed to have singer Ricardo Baum in its ranks – an unmistakable voice whose sound, always slightly mournful yet epic, takes the songs by his hand to climb with them to unknown heights – only to travel through deep, dark valleys again a moment later. When the album kicks off with that drum pattern that leads into ‘Where This World Ends’, you immediately notice that something is different about THE NIGHT ETERNAL. While the music on the previous albums could easily be described as DANZIG meets IRON MAIDEN – but in a completely unique way – there’s more to it now: the music has a hint of Goth, a utterly dark, heavy atmosphere. In this case, Goth more refers to the Indie scene of the late Eighties, somewhere between FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM or THE CULT. Both of the styles, which are actually quite different, Heavy Metal with its twin lead guitars and Goth Rock with its soundscapes full of immense atmosphere, blend together in songs such as ‘Caught In A Spell’ or ‘When The Last Candle Dies’ creating comfort moments within a cosy, melancholic minor key. With ‘Eurydice (Don’t Look Back)’ and ‘The Watcher Of The Burning Veil’, the album also features two slightly quicker tracks, both of which thrive heavily on their theatrical song-structure and simply have brilliant choruses. When ‘The Watcher Of The Burning Veil’ moves into this sing-along section – which Ricardo first speaks about and then sings – it’s absolutely spectacular! Finally and almost unnoticeable it becomes apparent that, in the songwriting, the guitars repeatedly play with tiny extra details, like if they somehow want to build an invisible bridge to THE DEVIL’S BLOOD, for whom precisely this kind of songwriting has often provided that extra touch of perfectionism. If one were to cite examples, the last two tracks, ‘Shape Of Sorrow’ and ‘Dancin On Crimson Ground’, are particularly good examples. All in all, this is an album that unfolds a little more with every listen and is almost certainly one of the highlights of the year. Which brings us back to the band of the moment… www.facebook.com/thenighteternal, www.facebook.com/metalbladerecords