Echoes Of Eternity
AS SHADOWS BURN
Nuclear Blast Records

What a relief, a metal record by a band completely comfortable in its own shoes. Echoes of Eternity are an old-school-tinged riff-based metal band. Think maybe the first Sanctuary record for velocity and timbre.

The compelling thing about this record is the vocals of frontwoman Francine Boucher. I always feared female fronted metal and hard rock bands because the voice almost always fell into that Pat Benatar sound-alike mold. Face it, back then, there were few influences for girls into the harder stuff. You had Janis Joplin, whose clones were pathetic, Ann Wilson, who couldn’t be touched…Robert Plant with boobs to be sure. And Pat Benatar, the original pissed-off rock chick, a voice that spawned generations of style-pinchers. The new school seems to all draw comparisons to Amy Lee of Evanescence. Yawn.

Original sounds in modern aggressive music as fronted by women are perhaps offered by the Scandinavian scowl of Arch Enemy’s Angela Gossow, and the unreal power of Benedictum’s Veronica Freeman. Enter Francine, a unique voice to mix with powerful music. I can’t help but hear tons and tons of Madonna here. In both delivery and choice of melody lines. There also seems to be an occasional channeling of Veruca Salt’s Nina Gordon and Louise Post. Refreshingly, this comes across more honest and quaint as opposed to coming off gimmicky! And yes, there’s the obligatory “but what about Doro?”, This is way more listenable, based primarily on Doro was so freaking generic…cheesy lyrics, predictable songwriting…

Musically, the band’s just fine. The guitars enjoying all manner of riffs from classic Priest and Maiden-styled gallop to a Slayer-esque speed-chug. The band seems capable of playing a busier style, but content to let the power lie in the simplicity of the songs, the way that Armored Saint strode comfortably right between The LA & Bay Area sounds of their immediate competition.

PITRIFF RATING - 8/10 – I wanted to laugh my ass off at this one, cause I’m pretty much a dick, I thought “be a nice guy” give it at least a 6. But, I find that this is way more interesting than that. A very listenable record…this one will stay in the car for awhile, which easily jumps it up 2 points, so, there’s my 8. I still hear a ton of Madonna in her voice, but I like it, fucking weird ain’t it?

John O'Brien

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