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Review: Eternal Tears Of Sorrow - Before the Bleeding Sun
Eternal Tears Of Sorrow
www.eternaltears.fi
Before the Bleeding Sun

Label: SpineFarm Records
Year released: 2006
Duration: 43:20
Tracks: 9
Genre: Gothic/Death

Rating:
4/5


Review online: January 31, 2007
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 4.33/5 (86.67%) (21 Votes)
Review

Well, we never thought we'd get another ETOS album after A Virgin And A Whore in 2002, but here we are with a reunion disc. I have really mixed feelings about this, as it is simultaneously exactly what I expected and less than I hoped for.

The signature sound of this band is all over this disc, even if there is a more Gothic and accessible feel to this album. Parts of some of these songs, especially the album closer "Angelheart, Ravenheart", could have come straight off a Nightwish album, right down to the choral vocals. The truth is that the only thing keeping this from being complete Nightwish/Sonata Arctica symphonic Power Metal is ETOS' refusal to ditch the harsh vocals, which by now sound completely out of place.

I guess I just expected more from this album. Before The Bleeding Sun is very good, but so much of it sounds directly taken from the old albums, that it is also pretty damned derivative. I don't know if you can really fault a band for sounding like themselves, but this album sounds too much like an ETOS CD – it's like there has been no progression at all in the last four years. Maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon, as songs like "Red Dawn Rising" and "Lost Rune Of Thunder" are really excellent, but this album just doesn't have the spark of the old discs. Rather than pushing their sound, ETOS, made the easy choice of just recycling their old songs and producing a very safe album. This is a disc any fan of their old works should buy and enjoy, but I just don't think it's up there artistically with Chaotic Beauty or A Virgin And A Whore. Maybe I'm just not the same metalhead I was when I first got into this band, and maybe their older albums wouldn't grab me as much if I heard them now – I really can't answer that. But from where I sit Before The Bleeding Sun is good, but not great.

More about Eternal Tears Of Sorrow...
Review: A Virgin and a Whore (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Chaotic Beauty (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Children of the Dark Waters (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Saivon Lapsi (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Sinner's Serenade (reviewed by 4th Horseman)
Review: Vilda Mannu (reviewed by 4th Horseman)
Interview with guitarist Jarmo Puolakanaho and vocalist and bassist Altti Veteläinen on July 25, 2020 (Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
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