Eterna - Terra Nova (2002)

Artista: Eterna
Álbum: Terra Nova
Año: 2002
Género: Metal progresivo / Power Metal
Nacionalidad: Brasil

Lista de Temas:
01. Vera Cruz
02. Mother Land
03. Desert Moon
04. Levitas
05. Terra Nova
06. Working Man
07. Da Pacem Domine
08. Social Sacrifice
09. Flight Recorder
10. Good Bye My Dear Ophelia
11. Terra Nova (radio version)

Alineación:
- Leandro Caçoilo / vocals
- Paulo Frade / guitars
- Rafael Agostino / keyboards/guitars
- Jason Freitas / bass
- Paulo Henrique / drums

Es viernes, el estilo del disco no me gusta, cantan en inglés y es temprano ¿quieren que escriba algo?... háganlo ustedes. Les dejo para los que quieran el otro disco de esta banda que tengo, que yo sepa tiene un cuarto álbum de estudio y un disco en vivo, eso al menos, así que para quienes les gustó pueden ir buscando por ahí... les dejo unos comentarios y al disco... que viene el fin de semana.

For anyone wondering why Christians are viewed with such disdain in the metal scene, this album is a good primer. Christians make music like this.
Eterna plays a variety of heavy/power metal that I would charitably describe as 'mind-bendingly gay'. Unfortunately it's not so gay it's awesome like Kaledon, it's just so gay it's gay and quite frankly embarrassing. On top of being gay, it's incredibly generic on every level, so it's not even gay and particularly competent. It just sucks.
Much of the material is midpaced and rooted in traditional styles of heavy metal, but of course laced with huge amounts of queer Europower aesthetic to attract the lucrative homosexual metalhead market. The riffs are extremely repetitive and revolve around either bombastically held chords or the same three-chord power metal riffs we've all heard dozens of times. The drumming is stereotypical alternation between double bass and rock beats. Vocals attempt to sound like Bruce Dickinson by slathering everything with a thick layer of vibrato but just succeed in sounding ridiculous.
What's amazing is how even though the band manages to fulfill all sorts of power metal stereotypes they still manage to fuck it up more often than not. Half the riffs go nowhere and reach no logical resolution, which might be fine in black metal but not in what is supposed to be glorified pop music. The vocal melodies similarly lead nowhere and sound like random notes strung together and rarely interact with the guitars on any meaningful level.
This is awful, which should come as no surprise to anyone reading this. Brazilian Christian power metal is a pretty awful description for equally awful music. Pretend this doesn't exist and maybe they'll go away if we try hard enough.

Noktorn

Sort of a bizarre release from Eterna. The first five songs are outstanding power/prog metal with spatterings of those neo-classical sounding keyboards. This band has improved by leaps and bounds. This become apparently clear when track six begins, which is a track taken from the band's 2002 album "Papyrus". However, even the Papyrus tracks are quite enjoyable. I am not exactly sure why the band decided to put these old tracks on this CD. Perhaps it is because this was their first CD to be distributed in the U.S. market. For us fans who already have "Papyrus", it's the new tracks that make this CD worth it's price. I especially enjoyed the Dream Theater-ish instrumental "Levitas", which gives the band a chance to show their talents.
Eterna return in '04 with their best effort to date. The band still plays classy, progressive, and melodic power metal, but they have improved 100% in every aspect from their past CDs. First of all, the mix is thick and raw but clear enough that every instrument is heard, right down to every single thump on the bass drum. Also, the band has really improved as musicians and songwriters. One listen to "Holy Ghost" should impress any fan of classic heavy metal. While I feel the entire disc is strong, there was something about this particular song that really stuck out to me. The guitar riffs, the lightning fast guitar solo, the smooth vocals, and the memorable chorus all work well together. Since English isn't this band's first language I did notice some phrasing that sounded odd here and there throughout the disc, but nothing that really distracted me from enjoying the music. Eterna also incorporated keyboards, which I feel sometimes can work to the detriment of many heavy metal bands. Eterna, however, use them to reinforce the music. The keys in "Dead Eyes", for instance, reminded me a bit of something that Dream Theater might do. The same holds true for the bridge and solo section in "Searching for Salvation" that switches from a fast, impressive guitar solo to an equally impressive keyboard solo. Actually this song has a slow, heavy, moody vibe that reminded me of Veni Domine. "After Shadows" is a sort acoustic instrumental that works as the intro to another standout cut on this CD, "Power for the Fools". This song is another fast and furious power metal track that rivals "Holy Spirit" for my favorite track. The only song that I really felt dragged a bit was the slow acoustic ballad at the end of the CD. Despite this, "Epiphany" is Eterna's stronger effort to date. Even the front cover art on this CD is top notch.

No life ´til metal

Eterna have grown as musicians with each release. And I find 'Terra Nova' to be the album that shows the band in full bloom. Their brand of melodic power metal is pretty stereotypical, but as long as most the songs are this good, who cares? It's all about the great feeling you get when listening to the CD that matters! And 'Terra Nova' has plenty of feel good songs. The sing-a-long factor is very high. But this is by no means a prissy album nonetheless. Expect melodic power metal with a flare of the progressive. They remind me of bands such as Narnia and Seventh Avenue. Good stuff!
For some reason the band has re-recorded 4 of the tracks from their second album, 'Papyrus', for this album. Is that a sign of a band in a hurry, not having time enough to write new songs?
Killer tracks: I really like them all, except for the instrumentals

Metal-metropolis

Parece que a estos pibes les gustan las tapas feas feas, no? son muy feas!