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Eternal Lord

Blessed Be This Nightmare
2008
Ferret Music

Eternal Lord - Blessed Be This Nightmare (Cover Artwork)

Review by: Jelone
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Published on August 29th 2008

Iron Maiden. DragonForce. Black fucking Sabbath. Great Britain has turned out some great metal bands. Ferret Music signees and “Dirty South, United Kingdom” residents Eternal Lord, however, are not among such elite. The group’s new album, the laughably titled Blessed Be This Nightmare, cycles through the metal/hardcore playbook quickly and efficiently. But as a listening experience, it’s a total death march, melodramatic yet ultimately tame.

Admittedly, Eternal Lord has some decent musical ideas; like any metal band, they are technically adept. Tunes like “Get to Fuck” and “I, the Deceiver” cycle through riffs and pounding double kick drums well enough. Guitarists Shaun Zerebecki and Chris Gregory show a solid range, mixing their chugging with some sweet harmonics and the occasional ambient part. If nothing else, Blessed Be This Nightmare is 38 minutes of adequately skull splitting, fairly face melting metal.

But the band is also entirely forgettable. There are countless metal/technical hardcore bands out there running the same plays, and better too. But more importantly, where the band really fails is in the lyrical department.

I gravitate towards intelligible singing. Operatic vocals in metal are A-OK with me, but what I really love is someone who yells with righteous fury but still manages to sound like a human being. Eternal Lord frontman Edward Butcher goes for the Marlboro-loving-grizzly-bear-masturbating-with-a-chainsaw sound, and it’s the kind of vocal approach that sounds demonic initially and then too much like a novelty after a while. It’s grating, yet also kitschy. Given the Org’s roots in punk and hardcore, I hope I’m not stretching too far in attempting to compare Butcher to, say, Henry Rollins or Ian MacKaye.

When I spin a record like Black Flag’s My War or Fugazi’s 13 Songs, I am met with a force far greater than anything Butcher can conjure. The fury that emanates from “My War” or “Waiting Room” is an all-encompassing energy, transcendent yet very much tethered to a human form. Because while these men express power in a brilliant way, their vocals still sound like they are coming from a human being. It is this quality, coupled with thought provoking lyrics, which makes such works so compelling. So while Butcher’s voice might sound “heavier” to some, to me it simply sounds cartoonish. I would much rather listen to someone like Rollins, who sounds like a pissed off man with (and this is important) something to say.

Ultimately, Eternal Lord is trying twice as hard to be half as good as a Metallica or a Strike Anywhere or a Minor Threat. This music does not move me in any possible way, whether musically, lyrically, or even ironically.

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Posted by Leonidas on 2009-10-31 19:43:15
My Score:

So is this a review of Black Flag and Fugazi, or Eternal Lord? Because with all the Black Flag/Fugazi fellatio I couldn't tell.

This album is p bad but review is even worse.

Posted by mozza778 on 2008-10-13 07:43:02
My Score:

This album is amazing, I personally have listened to each song at least 216 times and that's just on my media player.
I'll admit, this sort of music is not for everyone and there are loads of bands out there with just as good music. But to me I haven't heard a better album. Every song contains it's own unique elements and it just blows me away. One of the best parts in a song I have ever listened to is in Set Your Anchor just before the interlude, great melody, amazing lyrics and it just grips me so well.
I'm a drummer also, so the fact that this band has/had one of the best drummers in the UK is probably also a factor that draws me to them. I also think that Ed Butcher is one of the best vocalists out there, way better than Mitch from Suicide Silence. Also, I'm a bit confused as to why this album is being reviewed on a punk site but this is my first time here so I probably haven't looked around enough.
And also to be fair, you CANNOT compare Eternal Lord to bands like DragonForce or Metallica, completley different styles of music. And DragonForce are NOT a good UK band, they plow their way through a song, introduce some stupidly fast solo and have Iron Maiden type vocals. That's not how a song should be written and certainly is not to be compared to metal.
My score is for the album, not the review.

Posted by TraumaSponge on 2008-09-01 19:47:14

Should begin "Iron Maiden, Black fucking Sabbath".

Posted by diplodocuscore on 2008-08-31 12:29:18
My Score:

i'm over metalcore. especially anything with deep growling vocals, like this. still love the classiscs (glass casket) but anything new coming out in this area just bores me. and the low vocals are just totally emotionless.

Posted by hitlerbadzakgood on 2008-08-31 11:32:02

yeah dragonforce is far far far from great metal. the majority of the members dont even hail from london.

Posted by feeeding5000 on 2008-08-31 04:23:40

Dragonforce is terrible. Not a "good metal band" at all.

Posted by xote on 2008-08-30 21:34:08

Just stop reviewing anything from Ferret Records please. Everyone knows that any band they sign is fucking horrible give some real DIY bands a chance.

Posted by SilentStorms on 2008-08-30 17:10:59
My Score:

Yeah this review was kinda self-righteous. I'll pass as the reviewer said, but in the future please try to be a little less biased. Not all bands can pull off Black Flag or Fugazi vocals. Wait only Black Flag and Fugazi can pull off said vocals. Score is for review, and again, haven't heard the band.

Posted by zombie-guru on 2008-08-30 15:08:27

This was a pretty poorly written review. I'm not defending the band or anything, they are not very good, but those comparisons were not really useful because this band's sound is so far removed from bands like Strike Anywhere or Metallica.

Posted by grownfromthecold on 2008-08-30 13:42:46

I do like the cover however.

Posted by grownfromthecold on 2008-08-30 13:42:18
My Score:

This band kinda bloooows. Listen to the new Misery Signals instead, that shit's awesome. Score is for their album, Controller.

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