Into Eternity—'Sirens'

Formed in 1997 Into Eternity is a five-piece Canadian progressive metal band from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada by Tim Roth, Scott Krall, and Jim Austin. Over their long time as an active band, they have gone through a long list of members and have released five albums in 1999’s Into Eternity, 2001’s Dead or Dreaming, 2004’s Buried in Oblivion, 2006’s The Scattering of Ashes and 2008’s The Incurable Tragedy leading up to this album Sirens. The line up for “Sirens” features the only original member Tim Roth long time members, bass player Troy Bleich, and drummer Bryan Newbury are joined by new members in guitarist Matt Cuthbertson and a lead vocalist Amanda Kiernan who started as a touring member and came on full time for this album. This album is seemingly their comeback album after nearly a decade since their last album was released, always known as a unique and interesting band from the late 2000’s how will they fair in this all but a completely new landscape of metal? Let us dig in and find out!

This album leads out with the title track The Siren in which the first minute and thirty acts as an intro track of sorts before we jump into a very signature into eternity type riff! After the intro bit, this hits hard with driving drums and a crazy guitar lead showing that in the ten years they have been gone, they have not missed a beat. This followed soon by the debut of new singer Amanda "The Wench" Kiernan who right away makes her self-know with some furious screams! As a very big fan of their last vocalist Stu Block, I am happy to say this girl has some major chops! To the point of keeping up with their former singer which in my mind is no easy task and at times surpassing him and I just overall love her voice! On that note this is a perfect example in the full range of her voice really comes into play on song two “Fringes of Psychosis” from her wide range of singing and screaming she uses it all on this overall standout track. Running at almost seven minutes this monster of a song could still hold its own as a single type track and encompasses most of what this album is about.

The other stand out would have to be "Sandstorm" which I could compare to some of my favorite track from their past such as “Timeless Winter” or “Sever Emotional Distress." This being the shortest track on the album it still does a ton with its runtime and it is gone before you know what just happened, wowed and wanting more but in a way still loving the quick hit of energy as you realize the next three tracks encompass over twenty-one minutes of music! The last thing that truly stood out to me was the bass players backing death grows, they are very well used and have a great tone to sync up with the lead screams in the mix, it is odd to call out backing vocals but overall the backing vocals really add a ton to this album.

Now for the downsides, in which for all the good in the album there was a number of things that weren’t bad per say but a bit taxing at times. The first one I eluded two at the end of the good, the three songs that span over twenty-one minutes started to get taxing after a bit I know this is prog but within this block holds some of the weaker moments the momentum in this block is very shaky. The song of the three that really seems to throw the momentum of the album for a complete loop is the track “Nowhere near." If I had to pick a low point of the album it would easily be this track, overall it comes off as a very disjointed sort of ballad that they seemed lost on, it jumps around a lot with a lot of awkward transitions to the point it feels like it is a Frankenstein’s monster of three songs they made into one.

This album overall is a pretty great one beyond what I had mentioned, heck after “Nowhere Near” the album actually started to get back on pace. I would say overall this a very good comeback album for them, I also look forward to what this line up will do musically from here because six of the eight tracks of this album are certifiable bangers. “Scatter the Ashes” was kinda of just an eh that didn’t do much for me, they could have ended with the high note that is “Fukushima” and I don’t feel like most listeners would think they missed anything. I noticed in the notes that all the lyrics were written by Tim Roth and Troy Bleich, this could have been a case of Kiernan was still a hired gun when this was being written or just didn’t want someone new to the band into that process off the bat, but I would be interested to see if the lyrics improved on the next album with more heads on them!

Favorite Track(s):

The first three tracks “The Siren,” “Fringes of Psychosis,” and “Sandstorm” were all very good and “Fukushima” was also up there (still say it would have been a great way to end the album). But I am giving my favorite track to “Fringes of Psychosis.”

Rating:

This is a bit of a tweener, I would say either a strong B to a soft B+. A great comeback album and I am interested to see what this line up does to follow this up!

Check em out/support them here:

Bandcamp:

https://intoeternitysk.bandcamp.com/releases