Reviews: SAT291
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Five years on from their debut album Daimonion, the Hungarian band Eclipse of the Sun now return with a second full-length, Brave Never World. It presents music that has evolved into an epic formulation of doom/death metal, combining dramatically varying vocals, dark melodies, granite-heavy riffs, and astute use of symphonics, which in union present stirring yet gloom-cloaked experiences on a monumental scale, interwoven with passages of poignant sorrow.
The labels that will release the album on April 25th, Satanath Records and More Hate Productions, recommend it for fans of Isole, Paradise Lost, Swallow The Sun, My Dying Bride, and Amorphis, which of course is very good company to be in. Apart from the appeal of those references, we also have tangible evidence of what Eclipse of the Sun have accomplished on this new album, because today we’re premiering a multi-faceted and relentlessly gripping song called “World Without Words“.
Vocalist Dániel Szöllősi (who also performs guitars and synths) plays a central role in this song, doing what many bands must use two vocalists to accomplish. But of course his bandmates — guitarist Gergő Kovács, drummer Dávid Antal, and bassist György Kantár — make vital contributions of their own.
Long heavy chord reverberations, rumbling percussion, and pulsing bass notes launch the song, combined with the contrast of rippling, ethereal piano notes. The appearance of thick, craggy riffing creates ominous sensations as a prelude to the advent of both clean and harsh vocals, a tandem of soaring yet warlock singing and serrated-edge, cavernous growls. Accented by shimmering keys, the song generates an atmosphere of encroaching calamity as its intensity mounts with pummeling double-bass — but then the intensity falls away, replaced by haunting acoustic picking and soft, sorrowful singing.
When that interlude ends, the band race into a new manifestation of intensity, all jabbing and slithering riffs, thunderous drumming, and viciously inflamed snarls that culminate in a terrifying shriek. The music again swells in tormented grandeur at the finale, again recreating that feeling of elemental anguish and dread that gave the song such a striking start.
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2020/04/07/an-ncs-premiere-eclipse-of-the-sun-world-without-words/
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https://www.dargedik.com/2020/06/eclipse-of-sun-brave-never-world-2020.html
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sat288 skarz
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https://www.dargedik.com/2020/05/skarz-what-remains-2020-resena.html
Второй полноформатный альбом венгерской дум-метал-формации. Начинали музыканты свой творческий путь с дэта и под другой вывеской – Duath, но уже спустя пару лет переключились на готик-дум, попутно сменив название на Eclipse of the Sun. Первая же ассоциация – переосмысление наследия My Dying Bride середины 90-х, только с более яркой, более открытой мелодикой и, разумеется, с поправкой на более современное звучание. Дополнительно «Метал-Архивы» сулят нам некий «ближневосточный фолк», но никакого фолка на “Brave Never World” не обнаружено. Музыка Eclipse of the Sun – это классический мелодичный готик-дум-метал в стандартной, испытанной десятилетиями конфигурации: 50 минут плотного чистого саунда, мощных и обильных клавишных бэков, увесистых, тяжеловесных гитарных риффов, богатой вокальной палитры и много-много замечательных мелодий. Да, вроде бы ничего особенного, и нередко возникает в голове мысль «а ведь где-то я уже этот проигрыш или мотив уже слышал» – но как всё это переработано, как скомпоновано, как подано!.. За все вокальные партии отвечает Даниэл Сёллёши (Dániel Szöllösi), он же клавишник и автор всей музыки и текстов. Он и чистоголосым дьячком спел, и лютым харшем поорал, и порычал, и отстранённые декламации оформил… И всё это – эмоционально, с полной отдачей и реверансами-намёками в адрес уважаемых певцов (тут уж угадывайте сами, кто оказал влияние и послужил объектом вдохновения). Из конкретных зацепивших моментов (и композиций) хочется выделить три. Первый – это неожиданно круто вписавшиеся в музыку птичьи трели во вступлении к “Home” – получился этакий виртуальный телепорт в утренний лес (тут же стоит обратить внимание на гитарный проигрыш в финале). Второй – диссонирующий агрессивный финал в “World Without Words”: это контрастное решение позволяет наиболее глубоко почувствовать композицию. И третий – это трогательный, пронзительный припев в “Era of Sun”: “If I die tomorrow, my fear will gone…”. Альбом отличается неожиданно уютной, тёплой и умиротворяющей атмосферой – музыканты-то, поди, думали, что говорят со слушателями языком печали и отчаяния, но… получилось то, что получилось. В связи с этим все огрехи и недочёты вызывают понимающую улыбку, а не раздражение – и лёгкий песочек в звучании тарелок, и небольшой акцент у Даниэля… Слушая “Brave Never World”, почему-то верится – всё будет хорошо. И у группы, и у нас с вами.
http://inrock.ru/reviews/eclipse_of_the_sun_2020
Today’s review is of Hungarian Gothic Death Doom Metal band Eclipse Of The Sun’s second album, a much heavier and improved approach than their debut.
With the Death Metal side being very secondary, on this album the Doom side takes the lead, bringing slowness and a dreary atmosphere of elegance. Thanks to the gothic influences, the epic aura of the songs adopts its full form.
Aided by a voice that seems like a blend of Reverend Bizarre and My Dying Bride, the music highly reminds of Paradise Lost, with the same melodic riffs and symphonic background. This can be especially appreciated in the song “Things Called Life”.
Haunting with eerie flagrance, this album leans towards the most gothic side of the genre, while not losing its core values, so pure that they may even bring you back to the late 80’s whence it originated.
I recommend this album to fans of Doom Metal and Gothic Metal. In this full-length the band truly shows their hidden potential that only seems to grow.
https://www.bathoryzine.com/2020/09/eclpise-of-sun-brave-never-world-review.html
Melodias sombrias, riffs pesados e uma sensação de desgraça iminente em oito faixas preenchidas com paixão e atmosferas monumentais. Um disco imperdível para fãs de Isole, Paradise Lost, Swallow The Sun, My Dying Bride e Amorphis.
O Eclipse Of The Sun nos entrega uma forma cativante de death/doom metal, impressa num disco misterioso, de peso áspero e tortuoso, além de profundamente melódico.
A oscilação entre lirismo depressivo e a angustia infernal da forma orgânica como é feita aqui se torna envolvente pelo simples fato de nos fascinar pelo aspecto profano com que contrasta o peso, a gravidade e o extremismo musical com as belos e frios climas e melodias, sejam eles de guitarra ou teclados.
À medida que cada uma das músicas vai passando elas mostram mais pontos positivos do que negativos, mesmo que originalidade e vanguarda não sejam os objetivos, afinal, como eles mesmo dizem, lembramos constantemente dos primeiros discos de bandas como Paradise Lost, Amorphis, My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Anathema e correlatos durante a audição.
O que não significa que as músicas são datadas, além do fato de que personalidade própria aqui não falta!
Em suma, o resultado final é excelente! Tanto que destacamos seis das oito músicas do disco!
MÚSICAS DE DESTAQUE:
“Pillars Of Creation”, “Things Called Life”, “Not A Symbol”, “World Without Words”, “Era of Sun” e “Death Of Pan”.
PRA QUEM GOSTA DE:
Paradise Lost, Katatonia, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Swallow The Sun e Amorphis.
https://gavetadebaguncas.com.br/eclipse-of-the-sun-brave-never-world/
Los orígenes de esta banda húngara que responde al nombre de ECLIPSE OF THE SUN hay que buscarlos allá por el año 2008 cuando se fundó la banda de Death Metal DUATH, aunque conforme la alineación se fue asentando y la orientación musical evolucionó hacia derroteros mucho más próximos al Doom Metal el cambio en el nombre se hizo necesario para emprender una nueva etapa. Así la banda, ya con su nuevo nombre, publicó una primera demo homónima en 2011, a la que le seguiría el EP “Symbols” de 2012 y un debut en larga duración bautizado como “Daimonion” que vio la luz a finales de 2015. Ha habido que esperar un tiempo para que el grupo tome la riendas del asunto de nuevo y publique un nuevo álbum, algo que por fin ha sucedido gracias al sello ruso Satanath Records, en colaboración con More Hate Productions, que firman este “Brave Never World”.
En su segundo álbum ECLIPSE OF THE SUN demuestran la madurez ganada durante todos estos años, facturando un Doom Metal y con tintes cercanos al Death Metal que resulta épico y majestuoso, a la par que oscuro y desgarrado. Su música no tiene grandes sofisticaciones, pero es capaz de meternos en el ambiente del álbum con mucha eficacia gracias a esos riffs monolíticos y las atmósferas de los sintetizadores. Por otro lado está esa dualidad vocal que combina registros limpios y solemnes con gritos desgarrados repletos de negrura. Una fórmula que funciona bastante bien y que hace que “Brave Never World” suene evocador, agresivo, melancólico y oscuro, como debe ser en un trabajo de Doom / Death Metal.
Concluyendo, “Brave Never World” es un buen álbum que cualquier seguidor de este tipo de sonidos Doom / Death Metal acogerá de buen grado, si bien es cierto que ECLIPSE OF THE SUN no logran destacar especialmente en ninguna de sus facetas, por lo que seguro que si siguen trabajando duro pueden obtener resultados más ambiciosos que les lleven al siguiente nivel. De momento aquí tenemos esta colección de ocho cortes que suenan más que dignos y tienen el poder evocador y la épica necesaria para que la escucha resulte provechosa.
https://noizzwebzine.blogspot.com/2020/11/eclipse-of-sun-brave-never-world.html
En noviembre último Aleksey Korolyov, dueño del sello Satanath Records, me envió una gran cantidad de álbumes editados tanto por su discográfica como por otras relacionadas para poder reseñar, así que las próximas reseñas van a ser de su interesante catálogo. Siendo que los álbumes que me envió tienen que ver, más que nada, con el black metal y derivados, vamos a hablar acerca de uno de los trabajos que no entra dentro de esa etiqueta, al menos de manera no tan obvia.
Eclipse of the Sun es un combo húngaro proveniente de la ciudad de Székesfehérvár, que ya lleva una década de trabajo detrás. “Brave Never World”, editado el 25 de abril en colaboración con More Hate Productions, es su segundo álbum, que llega a cinco años de su LP debut “Daimonion”, el cual lanzaron de manera independiente.
EOTS practican un death/doom metal con gran énfasis en el doom, con canciones que muy pocas veces agarran velocidad y prefieren arrastrarse en cámara lenta. Las atmósferas melancólicas se ven marcadas por sintetizadores, pianos y una combinación de voces limpias y guturales, dándole cierto regusto gótico a las ocho canciones contenidas en “Brave Never World”. Sumando 49 minutos y monedas entre todas ellas, las composiciones no son extremadamente largas pero se mantienen en el rango de los cinco a seis minutos, algo promedio para el doom.
La inicial “Pillars of Creation” va directo al punto con ese avance lento y pesado, acompañado por arreglos de doble bombo. “Things Called Life” es de las que tiene más presencia de las voces limpias y de los mejores momentos del álbum, mientras que “World Without Words” tiene uno de los pocos momentos donde EOTS apretan el acelerador. Por otro lado, podría llegar a considerar a “Death of Pan” y “Home” como mis favoritas, gracias a sus intros lentas y misteriosas.
Este último detalle me permite hablar de una crítica que tendría que hacerle al álbum, y es que me gustaría que las canciones tuvieran más énfasis en las introducciones, porque EOTS tienen habilidad para crearlas y quisiera que la utilizaran más seguido. Le daría una estructura más definida a las composiciones, que pueden llegar a sonar demasiado parecidas al mantener casi siempre la misma velocidad. Claro que esto no es culpa de EOTS, sino que es algo en lo que suelen caer muchas bandas de doom metal. No llamaría al sonido de la banda “monótono” necesariamente, pero creo que no es algo para gente que no sea fan del doom metal.
Con una composición más sofisticada y una producción mejor, Eclipse of the Sun podrían terminar por explotar todos los buenos elementos que se pueden encontrar a lo largo de sus composiciones. Pero incluso si no termina de cerrar en todos los detalles, “Brave Never World” sigue siendo un trabajo interesante, que seguramente gustará a los fans del death/doom y cualquier otro estilo extremo.
https://redripperblues.wordpress.com/2020/12/22/resena-eclipse-of-the-sun-brave-never-world-2020/
Помню, как во второй половине девяностых я впервые узнал о группе MY DYING BRIDE, прочитав короткую заметку о посещенном концерте британцев кем-то из журналистов то-ли ROCK CITY (тогда ещё очень приятного, креативного и достойного издания), то-ли PAINKILLER’а… да и не суть в общем-то. Журналист тогда бросил очень фундаментальную фразу, характеризующую их творчество, что-то вроде: «очень самобытно, эмоционально. Особенно, это касается вокалиста, хотя, конечно эта вещь – на любителя».
Мне тогда эта фраза очень врезалась в сознание, и когда спустя какое-то время я увидел в продаже кассету с парой альбомов MY DYING BRIDE 95’го и 96’го годов, я конечно же не смог пройти мимо, прикупил её, и сразу же ломанулся домой в предвкушении чего-то нового, таинственного, неизведанного. И таки да: даже учитывая то, что кассеты PARADISE LOST, ANATHEMA, TIAMAT и AMORPHIS уже были затерты мною до дыр, MY DYING BRIDE произвели на меня определённый эффект, вкратце который можно было бы описать известной всем вам фразой: «Ни фига не понял, но очень интересно!». И думаю, что на тот момент эта непонятность усугублялась тем, что начал я именно с полностью «чистоголосых» альбомов. Начни я с «Turn Loose The Swans», уверен – абсолютной и искренней симпатией к группе я бы проникся гораздо быстрее (хотя, ведь в итоге я и так ею проникся, так что переживать тут абсолютно не из-за чего).
Сие долгое предисловие я раскатал в силу того, что прослушанный мною недавно новейший (и 2-й в дискографии) альбом «Brave Never World» венгров ECLIPSE OF THE SUN вызвал во мне очень похожие эмоции, при своем первом и дальнейших прослушиваниях. А именно: первой моей реакцией было лёгкое непонимание. В частности я говорю о вокале, он здесь очень специфический. Гроулинг и скриминг здесь достаточно традиционны, но вот с тембром именно чистого вокала… здесь возможно потребуется время на «примирение». Но, если вам всё-таки удастся примириться с его спецификой, то возможно вы так же как и я влюбитесь в эту пластинку и вам захочется включать её вновь и вновь и погружаться все глубже и глубже в её отстраненно-холодные пространства.
Причём, с каждым новым прослушиванием здесь для вас будет открываться что-то новое. И это при том, что весь альбом выдержан в достаточно ровном, размеренном темпе. Исключение составляют лишь композиция «World Without Words», где примерно в середине совершенно неожиданно… впрочем – послушайте сами. И конечно же настоятельно рекомендую слушать этот альбом никуда не спеша, будучи абсолютно спокойным и расслабленным. А зимние холода за окном помогут вам ещё более приумножить эффект от этой музыки.
И, кстати, отдельное восхищение хочется выразить за столь изобретательное название пластинки – «Brave Never World». Интересно, стоит ли искать в лирике отсылки к шедевральной антиутопии Олдоса Хаксли, или же мужчинам просто пришла в голову прикольная реминисценция и они решили блеснуть своей изобретательностью, сделав её названием альбома, и при этом особо не заморачивались над лирическим наполнением?… Тут, конечно, совершенно не помешало бы экспертное мнение «англоведа со стажем»…:))
Но, если вы, как и я вряд ли можете похвастаться хорошим знанием английского языка, это ни в коем случае не может стать помехой для того, чтобы в полной мере насладиться эмоциональным наполнением музыки на «Brave Never World», чего я вам от души желаю!
https://vk.com/wall-107912587_19835
Da un luogo dal nome impronunciabile, Székesfehérvár, arrivano questi Eclipse of the Sun, quartetto ungherese dedito ad un death doom d'annata. 'Brave Never World', atto secondo nella discografia dei nostri, a dieci anni dalla loro fondazione, è un disco onesto, che francamente se fosse uscito vent'anni fa, avrebbe meritato qualche chance in più. Si, perchè l'iniziale "Pillars of Creation" non fa altro che rimarcare quelle che sono le influenze quasi trentennali del disco, che ci riportano alle prime release dei My Dying Bride. Questi, in compagnia di Morgion, Swallow of the Sun, primi Paradise Lost e moltissimi altri, potrebbero figurare tra le principali influenze del quartetto magiaro. Anche la successiva "Things Called Life" fa l'occhiolino alla "Mia Sposa Morente" sia per utilizzo della voce pulita (ma qui compare anche un cantato sporco) che per un impianto sonoro che suona un filino datato. Ed è un peccato perchè mi scoccia limitarmi ad una mera sufficienza come sprono per una band che fondamentalmente avrebbe le capacità per fare meglio ed essere un po' più personale. Questo perchè gli Eclipse of the Sun sanno suonare, creano discrete atmosfere (ascoltate la title track e quel suo fare sinistro), ma quello che manca è una buona dose di freschezza e da una band in giro da ben dieci anni, beh mi sarei aspettato qualcosa in più che seguire i puri dettami dei maestri del genere e poco altro. Tra i mie pezzi preferiti vi citerei la sofferente "Not a Symbol" e la più sperimentale "Home", dove la voce è lasciata in sola compagnia di una batteria di accompagnamento in una prova quasi del tutto riuscita. Ancora ampi sprazzi atmosferici in "World Without Words", song guidata dalle tastiere e da una larga parte ambient che esploderà in un finale a dir poco devastante e che a mio avviso rappresenta l'ultima vera apprezzabile traccia del disco, complice una song conclusiva, "Era of Sun", ancora troppo ancorata al sound dei My Dying Bride. 'Brave Never World' è alla fine un disco che sembra mostrare ancora il lato acerbo della band, o comunque non farne uscire i reali valori. C'è da lavorare ancora duro per scrollarsi di dosso i facili paragoni e togliersi qualche discreta soddisfazione.
https://thepitofthedamned.blogspot.com/2020/12/eclipse-of-sun-brave-never-world.html
Não há margens para dúvidas, este será um trabalho onde o nosso sentido de melancolia estará a mil. E este sentido nunca se engana. Os húngaros lançaram o seu segundo álbum, cinco anos após a estreia e mostram-nos que por muito tempo que passe, sabemos que podemos contar com eles. O doom metal surge-nos de forma bastante melódica, o que só acentua ainda mais o sentimento que querem transmitir. Não só isso, como também traz mais contraste para o peso, nos momentos em que eles surgem – em alguns momentos faz-nos lembrar os My Dying Bride algures ali pelo “The Light At The End Of The World”. Não é, por isso mesmo, um álbum imediato para quem não tem o doom com tiques góticos a querer romper das veias. Para os outros, bem vindos à miséria, sei que estavam ansiosos por ela. Só tenho a deixar a nota que nem sempre a voz limpa resulta, mas fora isso, recomendado.
Grata sorpresa la que me he llevado con la banda húngara ECLIPSE OF THE SUN que venía en el último paquete promocional recibido desde SATANATH RECORDS. Formados en 2008 bajo el nombre Duath y más orientados hacia un Death Metal de corte melódico, cambian radicalmente hacia el Doom/Death noventero tras los consabidos meneos de formación (cuarteto), de nombre, y añadir detalles épicos a su sonido.
Sacan su primera y homónima Demo (2011), luego el Ep de 2012 Symbols y dan el salto al debut al largo con Deimonion (2015), no siendo hasta el pasado 2020 que sacan este fabuloso Brave Never World que os traigo por aquí. Satanath Records y More Hate se encargan de la edición en Jewel Case con Pit Art y bonito libreto/artwork de Emese `Durcka´ Laki. Grabación, mezcla y masterización corren a cargo de Dániel Szöllösi, alma máter del proyecto sin duda al encargarse de la composición, voces, teclados, guitarras y letras.
¿Y a qué suenan estos Eclipse of the Sun?. Bien... coged a los My Dying Bride del The Light at The End of The World, con esas sábanas lánguidas de teclados épicos y apocalípticos... esos guitarrazos espaciados, brutalíficamente melódicos y uso dual de las voces (guturales y limpias). Añádanse toques del Epic Doom de bandas como Solitude Aeturnus, primeros Revelation, Solstice, Candlemass y quizás algo de los desconocidísimos Mirror of Deception. La vértebra de los temas es muy buena, denotándose temas trabajados en profundidad moviéndose todo dentro de una pátina decrépita, nostálgica y típicamente Doom/Death. Por fortuna, las voces limpias son muy buenas (algo así como en Count Raven), un elemento que suele ser crítico cuando hablamos del Epic Doom.
Así, de forma inexorable, "Pillars of Creation" avanza con esos pétreos riffs de guitarra al más puro estilo inglés, con base de teclados y la entrada de una fantástica voz limpia creando esa atmósfera atemporal tan característica el Epic Doom. Las voces guturales se van alternando con las limpias y la base rítmica pone cuerpo a una apertura como mandan los cánones. No es original pero sí jodidamente adictivo. "Things Called Life" es posiblemente el corte que más me remita a The Light at the End of the World (también A Map of All Our Failures) de MDB con esa sensación claustrofóbica (mérito de las guitarras) de sudario sonoro. Destacar también los esporádicos toques catedralicios que le meten a los teclados, simples pero muy efectivos.
"Brave Never World" sube el tempo; guitarras distorsionadas y de repente, una bajada abrupta compatible con las cotas del Funeral. Doble bombo de nuevo y ecos leves a Katatonia. Bestial cómo se coquetea con el Gothic y el Dark. Es encomiable cómo conforme avanzan los minutos ECLIPSE OF THE SUN se tornan más complicados de etiquetar... creo que lo mejor está por llegar y su proceso de madurez no ha terminado ni por asomo. Así, hasta el final, se suceden un himno tras otro. "Not a Symbol" roza el Funeral Doom mientras que "Home", con larga intro de guitarra sola (acompañada de cantos de pájaros) y estructura de rock gótico, es ultrapegadiza, contrastando con el monolito que resulta "World Without Words" con algún que otro aberrunto finlandés por ahí (Swallow the Sun).
"Death of Pan" añade sinfonicidad y aumenta exponencialmente la epicidad decadente en un sincopado avance que nuevamente recuerda a My Dying Bride. Piano, voces susurradas y una ejecución maestra con la voz limpia en tonos altos que se te clavan en la masa gris tal y como lo hacían Warning. "Era of Sun" finiquita por todo lo alto un disco más que notable de una banda que si sigue a este nivel dará mucho que hablar.
Muy recomendado.
https://lamuerteteniaunblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/eclipse-of-sun-brave-never-world.html
I am a huge fan of My Dying Bride. Have been so since day one. I cannot get enough of their melancholic deathdoom. So much a fan that I have for years been looking for bands that can still the craving. And I have found countless cool bands in my searches. Hungary’s ECLIPSE OF THE SUN are my latest endeavour in the land that is melancholic deathdoom. This one is a clear winner if you like your metal slow, dark and sinister and clad in a shroud of melancholy. This one makes me realize how much I really love My Dying Bride. I am a fan of ECLIPSE OF THE SUN from now on. This one really surprised me positively.
Eclipse Of The Sun is a Hungary-based white doom metal band that turned out better than one imagines. The band’s introduction and write-ups hinted at the kind of lousy nonsense bands like Orphanage or The Hu would release. This is not the best doom metal band ever, but fans of Paradise Lost, Anathema, My Dying Bride and even Candlemass will find songs here to soak in.
Vocal-wise, the singer is easy to understand. The black and white band photograph, the melancholy and gloomy hues and imagery and the children standing hand-in-hand before a monolith moan doom metal. The album’s title is an obvious play on ‘Brave New World’ and the lyrics to the title track speak of ‘roomes,’ which may be a misspelling as the song mentions “a room” earlier. The quartet has an actual and live drummer. The band does employ keyboards, but strictly and thankfully as background fodder. A song’s segment is awash in them during the rare moments when the keyboards are used for more than background fodder. The vocals oscillate between the morose and the growl, and sometimes feature both simultaneously, and the mentions of God and his believability hint at the act’s mindset.
The album kicks off with Pillars Of Creation (“Blessed Be Your Name”). This one has one of the more active keyboard passages and so is not the album’s best. The track has a hint of Candlemass buried within it. The members are not the best masters of their instruments, which ironically may work in the band’s favour. The song structures are hence kept simple and, as a side-effect, effective. The drumming of David Antal is weak though. He is a mere follower and contributes little else than keeping the rhythm. Things Called Life features a line where the singer clearly says, “writes on a wall,” but the lyric sheet has it as “writings on a wall.” The song shows more emotion. The title track is third and begins with a moment of speed and a good riff. The whiplash the listener gets is not owing to speed however. It is due to the distorted growls, the heavy riffs, the slow spoken passage and gothic inclinations all in the same song. Not A Symbol is a slow and morose song that is not much of a song actually. The vocals continue to mix it up, but the spoken words, the moaning, the background synthesizers and what sounds like a drum machine are uninteresting. Home is next and insists that we cannot exist without you as it speaks to mother Earth. It must suck to live in Hungary with a regressive president like Viktor Orban who is like adoring cow dong on the ground looking up to Donald Trump cheap suit. I crack myself up. Sorry, not supposed to. This is supposed to be a doom review. Let us move forward then. World Without Words is entirely too varied. It is slow to fast to heavy and occasionally brutal with hard riffing. Death Of Pan elects to triumph God over the evil Pan. This song brandishes an impressive guitar tone. Amusingly, it sounded like the band is chanting “God is a lie” when, after consulting the lyric sheet, it turned out singer Daniel Szollosi is in fact proclaiming that “God is alive.” The last song, entitled Era Of Sun, is a weak ending. The riff is pure rock and unexciting.
Come to think of it, Brave Never World is actually an appropriate album title here. The contradiction inherent in it speaks to a band that includes birds tweeting, cars honking, whispers and soft mellow passages next to growls, heavy riffs and crackling distortion. For my money the synthesizers and the spoken or whispered musings need to hold hands and jump into Lake Goth leaving the doom metal and heaviness behind for listeners to enjoy.
http://metallian.com/eclipseofthesun.php
The history of Hungarian band Eclipse Of The Sun goes back to the very end of this century’s first decade. Hailing from the city of Székesfehérvár (close to the Balaton lake, appreciated enormously by undersigned for its fine winery – egészségére!), as a five-piece they did create a first untitled demonstrational EP, soon followed by Symbols, consisting of four new tracks. Several line-up changes followed throughout the years, but in 2015, the band came up with their first official full-length album, Daimonion (independently released). Oh yes, there was a compilation too, FYI.
More changes in line-up did happen, and things went silent somehow. But eventually, in 2019 Eclipse Of The Sun started recording new material, which was written (music and lyrics) by frontman Dániel Szöllösi. This new stuff got gathered as Brave Never World and was conceived by Dániel (clean and harsh vocals, guitars and keyboards) in collaboration with bass player Gyorgy Kantár (also part of this band as from the very beginning), newly recruited drummer Dávid Antal (with a huge experience within the Progressive scene, by the way), and guitarist Gergö Kovács (who worked on the previous long-player Daimonion too).
Everything was recorded in the band’s home studio, and eventually mixed and mastered by Dániel. Eight compositions made it to the definitive version of Brave Never World, which saw the light in Spring 2020 via a collaboration, once again, of two highly interesting labels from Russian soil, More Hate Productions and Satanath Records. Besides a digital edition, there are 500 copies on compact disc, i.e. a jewel-case CD with an eight-page booklet. This one does contain extremely intriguing artwork (cover and inlay; check the details and feel the pettiness of being; courtesy of photographer Emese Durcka Laki, known for her nice pictures of kids), simply in black-and-white outlay (except for the cover, done in sepia), and with inclusion of the texts (in English).
Brave Never World clocks almost fifty minutes and stands for a quite traditional yet still distinctive form of Doom-Death Metal with a huge My Dying Bride attitude. This does not mean that this album is a copy of any My Dying Bride composition, but the eccentricity of these English masters has certainly been a huge source of inspiration for this Hungarian act.
Anyway, this material is very melodious in execution, with lots of changes in tempo and structure. The spine is built around heavy, sometimes even intense guitar melodies, heavily supported by monumental rhythms and riffs. The string section combines a dreamy, moody, gloomy melodicism with a powerful and pounding background energy. This gets organically supported by cool drum work, with both orthodox and eccentric patterns. Also the use of keyboards gets done with precision. Sometimes purely atmospheric, then again prominent, those synth lines, when represented, give the whole that little something more, accompanying the listener through spheres of the mystic and the epic.
Vocal-wise, there is a lot of variation too. Dániel is not a cheap copycat of Aaron S., but his range is comparable: crooning and harmonious clean vocals, spoken words, whispers, deep grunts and bleak screams; his vocal range is quite bulky, yet steadfast for sure. Besides, his pronunciation of the English language is exceptionally satisfying (which is not that evident when talking about the East-European scene, to be honest). Okay, this is somewhat exaggerated, yet still his tongue is clearly understandable.
Besides, there are other elements that are remarkable – and a surplus: samples, acoustic and semi-acoustic passages, a perfect equilibrium in between atmosphere and harshness, the mature approach and performance, a fabulously ingenious lyrical approach, harmonious choir chants, a well-thought balance in between tradition and progression (beware: Eclipse Of The Sun are not a Prog band, yet they do trespass the border of the Old School with some rather modernistic ideas and present-day implementations). There’s a theatrical level of drama going on, yet fortunately lacking exaggeration, drenching the whole experience in a space of open-mindedness and creativity.
The sound is extremely polished, yet not too clinically smooth. Mostly positive is the well-balanced mix, i.e. that every individual instrument (vocals included) has its role to play, yet does play upon its importance for sure as well. Leads and rhythm instrumentation, voices and instruments, back and foreground performance; everything gets figured in a fine-tuned equilibrium, all elements are of importance to result into this vast experience of darkened beauty and lightless elegance.
Recommended if you can appreciate material in the vein of (contemporary) My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Sentenced, Draconian, (early) Amorphis, Paradise Lost, Morgion and the likes…
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/eclipse-sun
Hungary's Eclipse of the Sun returns with its second full-length titled as "Brave Never World". The eight compositions the quartet is about to present us there are all about the usual motifs of gothic doom and melodic death metal with a slight addition of keyboards. Really nothing special if you ask me. Of course, atmosphere-wise it's sad and even funeral-like at times, but despite the well-balanced sound production I found their music very much lacking of good ideas and melodies. Unfortunately, the over 49 minutes long album went pretty boring for me. Their musical approach is definitely not my cup of tea. So let's pass it exclusively to the fans of the band and also let's hope they can come up with more variety in the future. This album was crafted by the following members: Dániel Szöllõsi (vocals, guitar, synth programming), Gergõ Kovács (guitar), György Kantár (bass), Dávid Antal (drums) and the tracklist is as follows: "Pillars of Creation", "Things Called Life", "Brave Never World", "Not a Symbol", "Home", "World Without Words", "Death of Pan", "Era of Sun".
http://castrum.com.ua/encomium/7albums1.htm