Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Go to the Samael website  Samael - Eternal [Century Media - 1999]

Buy this CD now!
You probably all know Samael from their fantastic albums "Passage" and "Ceremony of Opposites". Samael was one of these bands who always developed their style of music further but still remained brilliant with each release. Their music was always cold and aggressive. This last studio album, named "Eternal", was released back in 1999 and I was really disappointed at that time.Forget the coldness, forget the agressivity. It's almost completely gone now. This is really not the album I've expected.

I thought their development to a "techno-metal" band was quite cool and I was sure that they would develop their style even further in the electronic direction on this album.
But what have they done instead?
They took the typical Samael parts from "Passage" mixed them with alternative rock and a bit of true-metal, made the guitars sound like a defective electric shaver and proved that Vorph is absolutely incapable to sing clean. His voice sounds as if he was gurgling with water while they recorded it and his bad accent is almost funny. A fact you could never notice when he was singing with his extreme voice in the past.

The music is rather boring with too much echo and reverb. No development to more electronic sounds, just a much simpler structure and smooth hard rock songs with catchy melodic refrains.
The song "Together" for example, has a terrible, almost true-metal like refrain.
The lyrics got more insignificant on this release as if they don't know what they should sing about anymore.

Sometimes there are parts where they remind me of the great past but still, these parts sound as if they were just copied from "Passage".

I have read many good reviews about this album and I already wondered if my copy is defective or a wrong CD was accidently included, but sadly this is not the case.
2 years after the release of this album I still try to listen to it from time to time, to see if I might even like it after all. But as hard as I try, it's just not possible!

I still think Samael is a great band and I hope they will surprise me with a great album again in the future, but their latest output is just an eternal disappointment for me.

Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

Andreas Oelke
Latest Reviews

Samael - Eternal
You probably all know Samael from their fantastic albums "Passage" and "Ceremony of Opposites". Samael was one of these bands who always developed their styl...
021023   Transtilla - Transtilla III
021023   Arash Akbari - Amnestic Cont...
021023   Sam Eastmond - John Zorn's B...
021023   Thieves Like Us - Thieves Lik...
290923   Terror At The Red Wolf Inn - ...
290923   The Iron Prefect - The Iron P...
290923   Vomir - Pathos
290923   Worship - Focus
290923   Whore's Breath - Static Black
290923   Occlusion - 58- 3 Signaux
Latest Articles

Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Friendl...
New York-based Lucky Cerruti is one of the up-and-coming directors in the underground horror scene. Since 2019 the theatre actor turned director/ writer/prod...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
050523   Bill Morroni - The Trials & ...
280323   Magnus Granberg - Finding Emo...
230223   Trou Aux Rats - The Funeral I...
020223   The Residents & Support - Liv...
300123   Worship - In Praise Of Walled...
201222   Blood Chalice - Into The Sin...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom