Reviews

Eternal Lord has become the home of I Killed the Prom Queen former frontman, Ed Butcher. Ed played in a band called Hunt for Ida Wave with Eternal Lord guitarists Sean Zerabeki and Chris Gregory. So when Butcher left I Killed the Prom Queen, they asked him to try out for Eternal Lord and that is where we are today, listening to their debut full-length. Eternal Lord has a lot of similarities to I Killed the Prom Queen, though they would probably be considered heavier, as there is no singing. The band sounds similar to a lot of bands including From a Second Story Window, incorporating black metal elements and Bury Your Dead, incorporating moshcore tendencies. As a whole the band can be classified as deathcore with the incorporation of European metal into their sound, and though they don't exactly push the boundaries as far as creating something new, they are very good at what they do.

This album caught me off-guard and I did not expect to like it as much as I did. The song "Set Your Anchor" is a great metal song featuring blast beats and some great Scandinavian metal style guitar melodies. It is one of the better songs on the album. The next song, "Wasps," is another highlight, featuring a unique breakdown. "I, The Deceiver" is one of the more melodic songs on the record, and is a nice change from the rest of the tunes while still maintaining the aggression that is present throughout the record. The highlight of this track occurs around the three minute mark when the guitar melody kicks in and the lyrics read "Tomorrow's a brand new day so take from right now all you'll need. Tomorrow's a brand new start, it's a shame that I'm happy with today." "The Damned" is also one of the best songs on the album and one of the heaviest. The band reminds me a lot of From a Second Story Window on this one. The song "Amity" totally threw me off; it's a very raw acoustic guitar piece written and played by Butcher. Not too many bands could put out a deathcore album with an acoustic track thrown into the mix, but Eternal Lord pulls it off without too much of a problem. The album starts to get really heavy towards the end with just enormous breakdowns in "O' Brothel Where Art Thou," "Ten Forty Five" and "Blessed".

Lyrically there is a lot of content, with certain lines only repeated in a few cases. Butcher has stated that the lyrics are all about nightmares, hence the album title, and like the album cover, most of the lyrics are dark. I think Butcher's voice suits Eternal Lord better than it suited I Killed the Prom Queen. This band has already made a name for themselves with their first full length and can be considered a staple of deathcore in the United Kingdom. This album only lacks in diversity of songwriting and better songwriting in general; I think that if they stick together, the future will see this band only getting better and putting out even better songs.