Eternal Embrace

The Fall of Eve conveniently return with their debut full-length Eternal Embrace, which I honestly wasn't even expecting. Laura Tracey has a sultry, brilliant set of pipes on her, redolent of Charlotte Wessels. As such, the closest comparison here is early Delain, particularly the more truncated symphonic metal backing and proclivity to lean heavily on the vocals as the primary appeal. Tracey dominates the album, for better or worse; and just like Calls from the Horizon, songs are compact and catchy, making a determined beeline smack dab into long term memory. Especially on the languid, sensual croons of "Abandoned," Tracey emotes evocatively and demonstrates great control. Her tone is rather nasal and occupies an agreeable mid-register for most of the record. She doesn't take many risks, but it isn't always necessary.

This is because Eternal Embrace locks into a rather simple formula early on and save for the piano-driven ballad "Forgotten," it's mid-tempo, chunky symphonic rock with a fair bit of crunchy metal theatrics swimming in the symphonic hurricane. What endears me most here is how professional and sleek Eternal Embrace sounds, especially considering the band's limited resources. It's not Nightwish or Epica, but it easily holds its own against bands like Sirenia concerning the orchestral element. Catchy moments are more fleeting than one might suspect, but "Our Salvation" and "Abandoned" are brimming with ensnaring riffing progressions and fleshed out vocal lines. "Destiny" has to be the album highlight, a galloping, powerful anthem followed directly by the more exotic sounding "Fall from Paradise.' The riffs form a rigid backbone that reliably propels the music forward, but has the proclivity to diffuse into irrelevance if the stop-start angle is pushed too heavily.

So there are indeed some dragging moments on Eternal Embrace, which mostly revolve around the band going through the orchestral motions. The programmed synths need more variety, as it rarely deviates from lower-key Sirenia sorta stuff. What I mean is that it isn't enough to drive the music on its own like Nightwish. When the riffs begin to grow redundant, these deficiencies arise when the keys are isolated. Tracey's performance on its own is more than enough to convince, but I would have liked to see her take more risks. She is a rather conservative singer, and is one step away from making a good name for herself. The Fall of Eve needs more exposure, as they put a lot of heart into this album; yet months after the release and I still don't hear much chatter. This is a great proper debut for the band, and is obviously recommended.