Sear Bliss - "Eternal Recurrence" (2012)

Sear Bliss

"Eternal Recurrence"

Candlelight Recs.

2012

This is the 7th album of hungarian atmospheric black metal band Sear Bliss, known for the usage of trombone and other wind instruments. Their previous album "The Arcane Odyssey" was a great piece of music, so I was excpecting that the new one will be at least as good as his predecessor. And well, it is.

It is, but it's also different. A jazzy trombone in the first track on the album, "The Eternal Quest", was a big surprise for me. It was also an omen that the band is going to explore some new musical spaces. The music on "Eternal Recurrence" got more progressive than other albums. There is less of typically black metal patents (but they are still present in the Sear Bliss world - like a fast, aggresive part of "A Lost Cause"). This jazzy-style is used here and there in every track, like in middle part of "Ballad of the Shipwrecked". But despite this progression, the tracks are not so lengthy as many prog metal albums. They are around 5-6 minutes long. And well, I think it's good - at least a band doesn't goes into needless experiments, like many other bands do. We have just pure essence here.

 Also in "Ballad..." we can hear melancholic choirs. Thanks to them, the music is much more spacious. My first association was Enslaved ( I mean of course their newer stuff). They sound a bit different (hungarian has their own style of playing, they don't need to rip off others'), but from the other side they "work" more or less the same.

The atmosphere on SB last album is less "cosmic", but instead is much more darker. Guitarists play progressive, yet very heavy riffs. Listen for example opening one in "A Lost Cause" - it's genius! Together with a weird, "haunted" tunes played on a keyboard and trombone, the band creates in many places a very distressing, original climate. The anxiety is even more enhanced by silent whispering and the noises, hidden in the background in some places (like at the end of "Great Cosmic Disorder"). The last track is full of such groans, loud at this time - it makes a very big impression.

Few words about production: I really have no question. It's quite similar to this from "The Arcane...", and fits the new, more progressive face of the band very well - it's clear and gives more heaviness to music.

After every replay grows a number of hidden things, that come to the ear. This album is simply great, and it doesn't get boring even after a long time. Sear Bliss created a perfect, dark and melancholic music. If your fan of them, or of such tunes - you will love it.  

Rate: 9+/10

Vladyka

Tracklist:

1. "The Eternal Quest"

2. "Ballad of the Shipwrecked"

3. "Great Cosmic Disorder"

4. "A Lost Cause"

5. "The New Era of Darkness"

6. "There's No Light Without Darkness"

7. "Entering the Seventh Gate"