Eternal Tears Of Sorrow - Virgin A Whore +Album Reviews

Amazing melodic and atmospheric death metal!

Matt Stoessel | Tolland, CT USA | 10/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This band might be hard to accept by many as death metal. This is so soft and so slow that you'll think you're listening to some wacked out melodic metal, or maybe even softer doom metal. To start off with, I can think of 2 bands to make a comparison to. The drums on this CD remind me almost identically to that of Nightwish's on their CD "Over the Hills and Far Away". Earlier today, I was listening to a band on my to-buy list by the name of Kalmah. They are a brutal black metal band, but their keys and I think drums, also, reminded me of these guys. So if you are familiar with either of those bands, you have a head start on what this Finnish death metal wonder sounds like. One other "band comparison" thing I can tell you is that they do a cover of an Accept song, "Sick, Dirty, and Mean", as track 7 on this CD. They've made it another beautiful song to compliment the others on this CD. That reminds me... don't let the name of the CD bother you - there's not a single swear on the entire CD nor is there any mention of rape or anything. It's really a very clean CD, except for the vocals. Actually, at the beginning of tracks 4 and 5, there is a normal singer singing, kind of like a Sonata Arctica voice. I've already said that the drums are among the cleanest sounding you'll ever find... Oh yeah... Track 6 has the same melody that the Nightwish song "She is My Sin" has. Or at least it reminds me of that song. Now here's the stunner: Track 5 would generally be classified as a ballad. All you brutal-death metal fans have just got to be going WHAT?!?!?! It's that slow and soft. It is also one of the 2 songs that start off with a normal vocalist. Let's see... ... judging by this information, can you figure out why it is so hard to find a CD by these guys?! If you can find one of their CDs, probably their newest one, whatever that may be depending on whenever you read this, get that one instead. I bet Eternal Tears of Sorrow will always release CDs better than the last. They are softer than Skyfire, Norther, and even Children of Bodom. Did this review help you? If it did, say so! Then check out my other reviews. Lately, I've been reviewing mostly death and black metal CDs, but I should get to some melodic metal soon. One more thing... ... get this CD!"

An Amazing Masterpiece

Eli Sigal | Toronto | 05/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A totally great example of how melodic death metal should sound like: agressive, furious, yet with excellent music: amazing guitar solos and rifs, easy-understandable, but brilliand mellody.
If you love band like In Flames and At The Gates I guarrantie you you won't regret buying it.
The best songs in the album: Heart Of Wilderness, Prophetian, Fall Of Man, Blood Of Harted.
Enjoy!"

They decided to stick with melody on this one

tK | 05/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Their 2000 Chaotic Beauty album sounded EXACTLY like something Kalmah produces. The vocalist sounds exactly like the Kalmah vocalist (and no I don't mean Bodom or Norther, etc.). However, in this album, there is such a clear difference in the band's music. The keyboards stick out beautifully and actually sounds like something like a piano rather than used in accordance with a guitar solo. This album is art, and ultimately shows that death has its melodic moments."

An album as good as its title is misleading.

Squash 'N' Squeak | The Darkest Regions of Outer Space | 05/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"ETOS deserve to go down in history as one of the greatest melodic death metal bands ever. They combine many symphonic and classical elements into their sounds, mainly with the keyboards, which had a lot of different dimensions to their music. Many purists will tell you that melodeath is dead and gone, but bands like Eternal Tears of Sorrow, among many others, show that they are very, very wrong.

The album's title conjures up the idea that the lyrics are nothing better than Cannibal Corpse lyrics, but they are, in fact, very poetic and emotive. Prophetian, The River Flows Frozen, and Aeon have excellent lyrics that are better than th lyrics of any mainstream band out there right now. Every member is a proficient musician, and guitar keyboard solos are very prominent. Altti Veteläinen's death growl is really more of a snarl than anything else, and his vocals are generally very decipherable, which is always a good thing. His singing voice, which he shows off on the ballad The River Flows Frozen and The Last One For Life, is excellent and powerful as well. It would have been nice if he'd use it more often, but maybe that's something for a future album.

The songs that stand out to me those most are Prophetian, Aeon, The Last One for Life, and, my favorite, the beautiful ballad The Rive Flows Frozen.

Unfortunately, ETOS are an extremely obscure band, and you'd be pretty hard-pressed to find any of their albums. But that just makes them all the more special, as they have only gotten better with each album. I consider their latest, Before The Bleeding Sun, to be their best yet. Thank God that their breakup was only momentarily, as they're an amazing band that I'm sure still has a lot to offer the world.

Overall, an amazing album that I recommend to anyone interested in hearing a unique spin on melodic and symphonic metal. I also recommend that you make a purist that you know listen to this record so they'll stop whining about melodeath being "dead"! ;)"

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