:: Echoes Of Eternity - The Forgotten Goddess

Echoes Of Eternity

When you think of progressive symphonic metal acts with operatic female vocalists (such as Nightwish, Leaves’ Eyes and Tristania), you generally think of the group’s as predominately European based. So it was with some surprise to find out that Nuclear Blast Records’ latest signing from within the same genre field hails from Los Angeles (California) of all places. Founded in 2004, the U.S./Canadian quintet independently released a self-titled three track EP in 2005, quickly signing up with Nuclear Blast Records, with the label giving fans a taste of what was to come with ‘Voices In A Dream’ being included on their compilation effort ‘Beautiful Voices II’ in 2006. After having heard ‘Voices In A Dream’, and hearing the potential within the band, I was looking forward to hearing their debut album ‘The Forgotten Goddess’ to see if the band were able to live up to expectations. After the obligatory introduction piece ‘Burning With Life’ slowly fades out, Echoes Of Eternity finally get things underway with ‘Expressions Of Flesh’, and it’s quite clear that there’s a clash within the group that doesn’t add up. Musically, the group rely heavily on the melodic death/thrash template, with some distinctive riffing driving the group’s heavy sound, with only the drumming vying for equal attention, meaning the production is anything but first class. But while the music side of things has some merit, it’s Boucher’s multi-layered ethereal vocals that struggle to match in power, with the music’s aggression seemingly at odds with the vocal presence within the group.

On the other hand, the progressive tinged ‘Voices In A Dream’, the title track ‘The Forgotten Goddess’, the epic ‘The Kingdom Within’ and the straightforward ‘Circles In Stone’ all seem to work at finding the right balance between the often lightweight vocals and the metallic musical backdrop, proving that Echoes Of Eternity do have some strong songs in their repertoire. Although let down with a patchy production and some underdeveloped ideas, Echoes Of Eternity’s debut shows that the band certainly have something a little different to offer from most of their European counterparts featuring a female vocalists out front. ‘The Forgotten Goddess’ isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s at the very least a solid and promising start for the band, and something they can build upon in time to come.