Considering that the album title refers to planetary destruction it’s no surprise that this album starts off in a volatile and explosive fashion with the drums blasting in and chaos unleashed. This Norwegian band and leader Evighet may not have been around since ‘Eternity’ but his roots do spread back into the formative years of the 2nd wave Scandinavian assault when he played in bands with luminaries such as Blasphemer & Apollyon who went on to infamy in acts such as Mayhem and Aura Noir. If Evighet had not apparently exiled himself in the Norwegian mountains perhaps he too would have followed in their footsteps and be more of an established artist. Releasing debut album ‘Bringer Of The Fall’ independently, with its catching Der Todesking art-work and then leaving things another 13 years until follow up ‘To Become The Great Beast’ it’s hardly surprising if you blinked and missed them entirely. Then of course, a plague beset our houses and Mundicide took longer than anticipated to emerge.
You can almost feel the frustration and anger here as the group who now contain members of Den Saakaldte and Nocturnal Breed invite us on their ‘Journey Towards The Darkside.’ Our spokesperson has a sinister, near whispered rasp as the guitars whiplash around him and the drums beat a hostile barbaric tattoo, intent on decimation. By the time we reach the 3rd and title track I have to admit apart from slight variation of tempo it all strikes as a bit formulaic and workmanlike, nothing we haven’t heard countless times before. Perhaps if they had continued in this fashion for the entirety of the album it would have all been a case of respectable, spirited but uninspired carnage throughout. Suddenly however with ‘Hymn’ the band deliver a curveball in line perhaps with its left hand pathed celebration and glorification of death. The mood is lighter, there’s a pagan jauntiness about things and suddenly the accompaniment of backing vocals gloriously swoon in sounding as though they have coasted in from the very hallowed halls of Valhalla. As the track continues there are also scale harmonies from the guitars fluttering away and bringing the majesty of Emperor to mind. Talk about a stand out track and a real unexpected surprise.
After this however it’s a case of reverting back to form and more in the vein of efficient hostility. A bit of a black n’ roll groove rides roughshod out of ‘Gunmetal Sky,’ and there’s a traditional Norse Svart metal fear and loathing on contemptuously delivered ‘Pest! Frykten i den andres øye’ Unfortunately and again no doubt due to the fact that I am searching for more in the way of grandiosity and grace that I now know Eternity are capable of delivering I’m finding it hard to get a necessary spark out of it all. It is not helped in the slightest by the last song ‘The Seventh Seal’ when they play an extended and lengthy, 10-minute game of one-dimensional chess with us when you desperately want someone to topple the king.
I really wanted to like this more and have given it plenty of listens hoping it would grow on me but alas, the words speak for themselves. Not bad by any means but on the whole I simply didn’t find myself engaging with the album.
(6.5/10 Pete Woods)
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