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Eternal Tears of Sorrow > Children of the Dark Waters > Reviews
Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Children of the Dark Waters

Something just doesn't fit - 65%

PorcupineOfDoom, December 20th, 2014

Eternal Tears of Sorrow are a slightly unusual mix of symphonic metal and melodic death metal. I probably should have expected that a band would combine them together at some point, considering that keyboards are used so frequently in the genre. Anyway, I'm a fan of melodeath and symphonic elements are something that I find to be a saving grace for a lot of otherwise weak bands. Yet this album doesn't do anything very special for me.

What is it that ruins it? It's hard to say, and it's also a bit unfair to lay the blame on a sole member of the band. It's a joint effort between everything that doesn't work out. It's too simplistic in some senses but too complex in others and there are just elements that I don't find particularly fitting. It's clear that they're trying to get to the listener emotionally, but it never really does anything that gives me any sort of emotional feeling. That's probably why it's so lackluster, what they're attempting to do just doesn't work.

The bits that fall under the simplistic heading are the guitars are drums. Guitars spend most of their time playing the same mid-paced riffs for most of the album, but occasionally they decide to do something resembling melodic death metal (mostly during the solos that don't really find a place in the song). The drums kind of go with them in a matching set, just plodding along for the most part. Nothing spectacular there, and I really fail to understand why there are two different drummers on the album, especially considering that neither one is great. That just makes no sense to me.

The keyboards, on the other hand, are perhaps slightly too complex. They attempt to do too much to create an atmosphere for the band and sometimes that backfires and makes everything sound overdone. I think the fact that they have to make up for the guitar's failures probably provokes this even more. The vocals are also overdone, and although the growls are decent the cleans just don't seem right for this style of metal. The choir seems like a decent idea (even if it is somewhat hidden behind the force of the keyboard), but I don't understand why the band need an additional three guest vocalists. One of them I could understand, but why three on top of the two they already have? Too many different vocal patterns are displayed and there's a lack of consistency, making it difficult to appreciate some of the songs.

It isn't all bad, because there are gems like Midnight Bird and Angelheart, Ravenheart on this record. On both of those tracks the band seems to be more into the music and determined to make something good of their time, but for the rest of the album Eternal Tears of Sorrow just don't sound engaged at all. The album wouldn't be so bad if they'd just sound interested.

This is what melodic death metal is all about - 95%

bigdaddydrummer, February 3rd, 2014

Eternal Tears of Sorrow have been in my opinion a true cornerstone in the melodic/symphonic death metal genre. Children of the Dark Waters is the bands sixth full-length release and boy is it a gold mine. With a very dark atmosphere established within the first minute of the first track this album hooks the listener and does not let go. The opening track "Angelheart, Ravenheart (Act II: Children of the Dark Waters)" is a six minute roller coaster of emotions. The intro sets the dark tone with some keyboard orchestrations followed by the opening guitar riffs that fit right into place. This opening track has everything needed to entice the listener with excellently orchestrated guitar and keyboard harmonies, upbeat drumming, and vocals that are very hard to beat. After the opening track you are thrust right into the monstrous second track "Baptized by the Blood of Angels" which may be a bit more aggressive than the first track but never loses that dark gothic mood.

Then...right on cue after two upbeat and heavy tracks comes "Tears of Autumn Rain". This track, while still having some great and catchy guitar riffs and an amazing solo half way through, is much more melodic featuring the main melody for the song coming from the keyboard and beautiful female vocals on the chorus.

Now I would have no problem taking this review step by step through every second of this album but I don't want to completely spoil the surprises this album is packed with for those who have yet to hear it. If you are a fan of melodic death metal and melodic doom metal then this is perfect for you. This album has elements of bands such as Swallow the Sun, Black Sun Aeon, Katatonia, and Insomnium while not really sounding much like any of them. If you liked their album "A Virgin and a Whore" you'll like this album. All the qualities of "A Virgin and a Whore" that made it good are here and better, but I think the defining characteristic of this album that sets it apart from its predecessors is its unmistakable atmosphere. It's a masterpiece of emotion and exhilaration coupled with a very skillful instrumental delivery.

Best tracks? I'd have a hard time eliminating a single song, start to finish this album owns. I would have to say that my personal favorite would have to be "Sea of Whispers". It's probably the softest song on here but what it lacks in heaviness it makes up for in sheer beauty; both instrumentally and vocally. The poetic lyrics are delivered in a clean vocal style with female vocals as back up. This is a must hear for any fan of the genre. The European version of this album also includes an acoustic version of this song. Though not much different than the album version it's most certainly worth a listen.

If I had to find a single flaw in the album it would have to be that on some of the songs the production quality tends to not allow all instruments to be clearly distinguishable. This tends to happen on their heavier tracks (the beginning of "Summon the Wild" being a good example) when you have the guitars, keyboards, drums and vocals all keeping up a quick pace with full sound. The guitar work tends to be the first thing to get drowned out which is such a shame considering the level of expertise the guitarists bring to the table here. The bass is also unfortunately only really audible on the slower tracks or slower parts if the fast tracks.

So, there you have it. With an album that I don't see how it could be topped I'm giving this album a rating of 95% which is probably low balling, but I am always reluctant to give a "perfect" score on an album as there could always be room for growth. If you don't have this work of art, get it. If you have it spread the word about it, these guys deserve much more recognition than they have and "Children of the Dark Waters" is proof positive of that.

Forgets Many Things - 69%

OzzyApu, April 30th, 2013

There’s nothing too spectacular about this release. It’s decent, being a somewhat darker take on key-heavy melodic death that the band’s rolled with since reforming. It’s got maybe one outstanding song that harks back to the two albums this band killed on, Chaotic Beauty and A Virgin And A Whore. The rest is acceptable melodic death teetering on being buried by its own melodrama. It sounds like Septicflesh / Epica at some points and typical Finnish melodeath at other times. Most of all, it’s not very entertaining, be it from bungling riffs to the overblown cleans / keys. Before The Bleeding Sun, as uplifting as it was, had more focus and cohesion than this. Of this band’s new era, at least that album remembered a couple things: atmosphere and vividness.

The opener represents the album’s potential: theatrical, aggressive, spiteful, and decorously melodic. It’s got a cadence that reminds me of Kamelot’s “March Of Mephisto” but stylistically it’s more accurate to compare it to Epica’s melodic death personality. Altti’s vocals are menacing on this one, with that cut-up snarl / scream of his demonstrating what kind of presence dominates this album. However, and I’ve heard this in way too many bands, the clean vocals become very predominant throughout the album. The conflict is whether the cleans are appropriate or not in terms of flow and arrangements. Jarmo Kylmämen’s got a warm, mature, inflection-ridden voice, but a lot of the time it isn’t needed. The band gets going with some intensity similar to Kalmah and then the cleans come in to take it all away for the sake of catchiness of a different variety. Despite most of the songs here being good, it reduces the value of these songs and terms them into stagy songs.

Another song that defies this flaw from start to finish is “Midnight Bird”. Hell yeah, this song reminds me of A Virgin And A Whore, where slick leads and galloping riffs reflect the band’s charisma. The pounding drums and spluttering assaults are half of how to nail that overbearing sound. It’s got a throbbing rhythm and doesn’t take the crystalline production for granted. That’s how you pull off this symphonic direction without compromising the melodic death edge. Another way is with “Sea Of Whispers” where the band does take the beatific side but distributes it evenly with its clean-dominated (male and female) verses, Altti’s peppered harsh vocals, and touching melodies. What’s produced either way are memorable, creative compositions that show a band with classy presentation and purpose.

The band’s taking longer now between albums, so in theory there’d be more time given for ironing over flaws or irregularities. But once they’re too far gone in the writing process, then making significant changes becomes more difficult, which had to be the case here. Again, I need to stress that this isn’t a bad album, but it’s not the atmospheric, virtuous beast that I know. Children Of The Dark Waters is just a decent placeholder album by a band who forgot how sleek and affirmative it knew how to be.

Misty marshes and pale, serene moonlight. - 83%

hells_unicorn, August 16th, 2012

In the grand scheme of northern melodeath, particularly of the Finnish persuasion, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow has been one of the big players, not to mention one of the earlier ones. Their origins reach back to the closing days of thrash metal’s dominion in the earlier 90s, albeit under the name Andromeda, and thus they’ve tended to exhibit melodic death metal’s somewhat greater affinity with thrash metal than that of death metal. But of late, they’ve modified their sound very significantly to incorporate a lot of symphonic and gothic elements that normally lend themselves to After Forever, Epica, and a few others that bring a greater harsh vocal presence to a sound more in line with what Nightwish was doing back in the early 2000s, but in this band’s case the harsh vocal assault is the principle voice rather than an occasional foil for an angelic impresario.

This band’s latest offering doesn’t full abandon the catchy paradigm of rich keyboards and soaring melodic guitar hooks that it has shared in common with Kalmah and Norther, but has definitely modified the formula significantly to allow for a much deeper atmosphere, while still towing the semi-power metal character that the Finnish approach to melodeath has always tended towards. The guitar work is technical, almost to the point of rivaling the Amott brothers’ handiwork with Arch Enemy or the various extravaganzas heard out of Children Of Bodom. However, the keyboard presence and the general drive and tempo of the whole album are a bit more restrained, almost to the point of being a slightly more riff happy answer to Tristania or perhaps early Sirenia.

Amid all of the impressive showmanship at work here and a decent helping of guest vocal slots to bring in further comparable elements to Nightwish and Epica, “Children Of The Dark Waters” takes care to actually bring the listener a good collection of songs. While perhaps among the groovier and less speedy songs on the album, “Tears Of Autumn Rain” and “Midnight Bird” really stick in the memory with a simple, to the point set of ideas that are layered over with thick, thudding guitar chugs and serene harmonies via vocal and keyboard additives. This very tasty and satisfying formula is successfully distilled further on the album’s token ballad “Sea Of Whispers”, featuring a flowing piano line and a crooning clean baritone that reminds of a number of slower gothic ballads from a few darker sounding Finnish power metal bands.

Perhaps the biggest gripe that one could make about this album is that it is so slick sounding and well produced that it comes off as processed in comparison to the grittier sound normally heard out of this band’s competition (namely Kalmah), but this album seems to be geared a bit more towards the Epica audience than their earlier material in the late 90s and early 2000s. There are definitely a few key points in the album where things pick up and get nastier, namely the cruising semi-power metal celebration “Diary Of Demonic Dreams”, but it is definitely of a different pedigree than what normally gets associated with melodeath and Finland. It is, nevertheless, a solid album for anyone who really loves the beautifully dense atmospheric qualities of symphonic music but with a bit more edge to it than most of the predominant, female fronted groups.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on August 16, 2012.

The tears are drying up - 60%

autothrall, November 12th, 2009

Although I can appreciate their status as one of the earliest Finnish pioneers to create melodic, atmospheric death metal, Eternal Tears of Sorrow has never been my cup of tea. Their sound has evolved through the years into a hybrid of symphonic, gothic and death metal, and this is no exception. Children of the Dark Water is probably some of the better work I've heard from the band, but even such a solid statement as this has failed to evoke a response from me.

From a technical standpoint, their sixth album sounds phenomenal. A clean, professional mix which captures every note beautifully. This is important since the band is often churning out death metal rhythms while keyboards are encasing the metallic core in layers of orchestration. Some of the tracks here are a little more gothic oriented ("Sea of Whispers" for example), with female vocals used for backup to the regular clean male parts (okay, a little too much for my taste). The band compose their songs well, alternating moments of quietude and ferocity.

Unfortunately, even after repeated listens, I just can't remember any of these songs. There are just no hooks which sink into me, even though I have little negative to say about them. The packaging is certainly fancy, and the idea of symphonic death metal is alluring, but many of the melodies and orchestrations seem fairly obvious and familiar, as if there are never any surprises lurking around any corner. A few songs do create a worthy background atmosphere. "When the Darkest Night Falls" has a driving symphonic edge which would work well as a background battle in a movie or game. "Nocturne Thule" probably held my attention more than any of the others, a pretty epic composure of thundering double bass layered in a myriad of golden tongued melodies. But even this was forgettable shortly after the credits rolled.

If good sound is important to you, and you enjoy bands that blend the disparate elements of gothic, symphonic and death metal (Trail of Tears, Tristania, maybe some keyboard melodeath like Kalmah or Norther), then Children of the Dark Waters might be worth a listen. Eternal Tears of Sorrow have the professional and production skill of seasoned veterans, but I've come away unimpressed for the sixth time now. This is just one of those cases where an album is missing that elusive 'something'.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com