Metal to meditate to
Ewigkeits' members have all emerged from black metal bands and projects, to come together to form a band who's sound is so far away from black metal it's hard to believe.
This album is made up of two dominating elements. Firstly, the keyboards. The keyboards are sharp and abrupt blasts of strings or explosive synths. They shape the music for the guitars and vocals to meekly follow. Imagine if Children of Bodom's Janne Warman drank a quart of Meths. That's what you're looking at here.
Next, we've got the vocals. Considering Ewigkeit's roots are firmly rooted in black metal, you'll probably be expecting some audio rampaging. Suprisingly, the vocals are as calm as the rest of the album. For some reason, a band who owe their existance to some of the loudest metal on the planet have made a calming album reminiscent to the calming effect of Devin Townsend's Ocean Machine or Elvira Madigan's Angelis Deamonae. Finally, you've got the guitars. On tracks such as "It's Not Reality" they act as a violent juxtapose to the calm keyboards, but on tracks such as "The Thought Police", the guitars are a soothing buzz behind smooth group vocals.
What you have here is truely some revolutionary metal. It's undoubtably metal, although the drums almost give to a dance music feel, but stay on the right side of complex to avoid the mundane. Plus, you get a live track on this album in the form of "How To Conquer The World" thrown in, which is pure generosity.
What you have is a metal album that will be hated by people stuck in their ways. If you've listened to metal for years and you like your old, balls-to-the-wall fixes, that's fine. Stay with them. But if you embrace the new dynamics of music, Ewigkeit are the way to go.