The Eternal, from Melbourne Australia, started out under the moniker Cryptal Darkness. With this name they gained some fame in the international doom metal scene but problems with their label and their line-up forced them to change it. Therefore, The Eternal was born. This five-piece from down under plays very slow melodic doom metal with the wonderful warm clean voice of Mark Kelson. Being a death metal fan from origin, I’m more used to doom/death metal with thundering grunts and such but I have to admit that you don’t need grunts to create a doomy atmosphere. Although the singing is melodic and most of the times light of tone, judging the song titles (“All Hope Lost”, “Commemorate The Misery” and the title track), The Eternal are dealing with the well known doom topics such as despair, misery and death.

The individual tracks are very long (seven minutes is no exception) but they stay interesting all the time. Each track has its own mood and atmosphere. For instance, “Down” reminds heavily of Katatonia’s Viva Emptiness album, “Harmony Of Dissonance” sounds like a traditional Celtic hymn and “Remembrance Scars” is a more traditional doom metal song. Darren White (ex- Anathema, ex- The Blood Divine & Dead Men Dream) contributed to this song by the way.

This album needs some time to fully express itself but if you have a liking for melodic doom metal with an occasional gothic moment this is worth checking out.