ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW – Before The Bleeding Sun

Hailing from the town of Pudasjarvi in Northern Finland, Eternal Tears of Sorrow (EToS), return after a five-year hiatus with a new line-up and an unyielding new album, Before the Bleeding Sun, released via Spinefarm Records.

Their debut in May of 1994 was in the form of two demo albums, The Seven Goddesses of Frost and Bard’s Burial, helping land them a record deal. Their first official album, Sinner’s Serenade, on the X-Treme Records label, landed them a spot on the Metal map in 1997. In 1998, they found a home with Spinefarm Records. Since their debut, they have matured very nicely over the past 12 years. With their new lineup, including original members Jarmo Puolakanaho on guitar and Altti Vetelainen on vocals and bass, veteran Petri Sankala on percussion, and new members Risto Ruuth on guitar and Janne Tolsa on keyboards, they show they are now a well-tuned Metal Machine.

Before the Bleeding Sun is a definitive piece of Melodic Extreme Metal. The album flows from one track to another, creating the feeling of a great epic being formed in your mind’s eye.

The introductory track, “Sweet Lilith of My Dreams,” starts the way a great Metal album should; setting the mood with harmonious guitar and synthesizer, and building con intensita with hard drums and vocals. “Red Dawn Rising” shows the talent of their new keyboardist extraordinaire, with serious emotional influence surging through his fingertips. Add to that a vicious dual guitar solo, a la Iron Maiden, and vocal fluctuation from hard to soft from Altti, and you have yourself a recipe for an ominous Dark Metal classic. “Sakura No Rei” proves to be an excellent intro to the following track “Sinister Rain.” The ethereal background singers will send welcomed chills throughout your spine.

However, track 7, “Lost Rune of Thunder,” feels, well, slightly lost. It seems out of place on this album. It’s almost as though EToS retroverted to an earlier time, but all of the surrounding tracks more than make up for it. The outro song, “Angelheart,Ravenheart,” is prime-time, grade-A, 100 percent Melodic Rock. Coming in at almost nine minutes, it nurtures your desire for heavy vocals, blazingly fast and aggressive keyboards, ingenious guitar solos, a ghostly operatic chorus, double gut-punching drums, and melancholy lyrics … it is without a doubt the best way to go out.

Before the Bleeding Sun delivers in a big way. Eternal Tears of Sorrow have evolved into one of the finest examples of their genre. Their new members convey a fresh influence to the band, pushing them to the next level. Melodic, moody, chilling, aggressive, soothing, reborn, and beautiful. Wholly renewed, the Finnish Melodic Metal gurus have come back with a vengeance. While awaiting word on a world tour, get the album, you won’t regret it.