The Path to Eternity

With an increased interest in thrash metal over the course of the past 8 or 9 years, particularly of the older style, there have been a number of musical responses that might be likened to a push back of sorts in favor of a more modernized sound. Surprisingly enough, a fair amount of this has been coming out of one of the original strongholds of the old guard, namely Germany. Then again, the German scene itself was known for flirting a bit more with death and black metal aesthetics in the early days than others, save Slayer, Possessed and a numbers of similarly oriented acts out of Brazil and the U.S. It is out of this mold of darker and more extreme thrashing that borderlines on death metal that a band like the newly formed Lost Eternity finds itself on their recently released EP The Path To Eternity.

At first glance, this band seems to be taking a number of slower to mid-paced ideas from the latter days of Metallica's thrash era, along with bands going a similar direction in the early 90s like Heathen and Testament circa Victims Of Deception and The Ritual. The riff work is hard and heavy, having a compressed and percussive character that is pretty close to an update of the Scott Burns production approach. The lead guitar work further draws parallels to Metallica via a moderately technical rendition of the Kirk Hammett approach, though at times also employing elements of a melodic death metal aesthetic on longer songs such as "It All Belongs To Yesterday" and "The Ashes Of The Weak". This band definitely has an affinity for the frequent clean guitar balladry often heard on ...And Justice For All, though with a bit of a simpler and less layered one that would point towards a Testament or Slayer take on creepy acoustics.

There are definitely some noteworthy deviations out of standard thrash metal that can't be merely categorized as modern developments, but rather hints at a greater death metal influence. Arguably the most obvious example is the vocal work out of Marcus "Osher" Friedrich, who generally sings with a bellowing baritone character, but with frequent guttural barks and primal shrieks that definitely point at a Schuldiner and even a David Vincent influence at times. Similarly, when the tempo gets picked up a bit more as on "A Life In Vain", it develops a characteristic sound that's actually a bit closer to Death circa Individual Thought Patterns and Symbolic, often wandering through a series of noodling interludes and quasi-progressive tempo shifts with a bit more emphasis on chaotic drum work and dissonant guitar harmonies that are just a bit too extreme for typical thrash metal.

While from a stylistic vantage point, this band has found itself in a pretty interesting place, their execution is often wanting. Most of the fault is with the vocals, which are fairly sloppy during the clean sung parts and almost sound like an inferior version of the bellows of a non-harsh section out of a pagan black metal outfit. Osher is definitely better at doing straight up death growls than crooning, and his attempts at emulating a Hetfield gruff tend to be hit or miss. The songwriting fairs a bit better, and the riff work is fairly innovative, but some of the longer efforts on here feel a bit too stretched out. If this band decided to fully take the plunge and become a true death/thrash fan with constant harsh vocalizations, they'd be in better shape, and given the recent departure of Osher from the band, they might do well to get somebody who is either a competent clean singer, or just one that growls constantly. There is some untapped potential here, but it definitely needs a different voice and a more streamlined presentation.

Later submitted to (The Metal Observer) on October 18, 2015.