Any person who follows the current state of melodic death metal will know that it has become quite an eclectic landscape in recent years with bands like Amon Amarth keeping the formula simple but then others like Countless Skies who are a constant referral for me when discussing the current state of the style given how much you can see that similar sound reverberating to many new albums. It tends to either be pretty simple or absolutely crazy in nature, but there can be a solid middle ground if the right band were to step up to the challenge. I wouldn’t expect a band to try so on their debut album, but it’s with their’s that Astralborne rises up to the challenge and truly smashes it!
When I saw that cover art and found that Astralborne was going to fall into the realm of melo-death, I honestly didn’t know which side of the spectrum we were going to get here much less a really surprising take that lands perfectly in the middle that very much tickles the fancy of fans on both sides. Every single track that’s spread throughout “Eternity’s End”, including the epic intro, exudes this massive presence that makes every song truly something to behold as Astralborne does everything in their possible to make the whole of the record something that’s to be savored to where I still can’t pick a favorite song even after listening to this for hours on end. “Eternity’s End” is simply exquisite even in its simplest moments as it’s at every possible turn that Astralborne knocks it right out of the park whether they decide to throw down awesome riffage that leaves you flattened, a grand display of instrumentation that’s nigh on colorful and amazing to behold, gripping the listener and never letting go, or, more often than not, a combination of the three. That enables this record to rise leagues above most of the other competition to show that the fresh new band already has their sound on lock and they’re fucking deadly with it. There isn’t much that can’t be said about “Eternity’s End” that can encapsulate just how wondrous this debut is as a whole, so the least I can do now is highly encourage anyone to listen to it upon its release, for should you be any sort of fan of the style then you will find more than one thing to fall in love with here.
In the current landscape of the style where the competition is no less than steep to be a standout band that can actually deliver, Astralborne’s first step is an absolutely phenomenal one that shows off a true shit-ton of strengths that this band has somehow acquired right off the bat. There isn’t a single iota of what’s brought to the table for “Eternity’s End” that I simply can’t get over, and if this album doesn’t earn this band one damn good following then that is a true crime upon all good melodic death metal!
“Eternity’s End” releases on November 22nd!
PRE-ORDER “Eternity’s End” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Astralborne on Facebook here.
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