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...
290324   Piranha - Piranha(DVD)
280324   Typhoon Club - Typhoon Club(B...
270324   Jerzy Skolimowski Collection ...
260324   Latex Choker - Sealed
260324   Occlusion - 59: No Input Wall
260324   Nihil Impvlse - Anabasis
260324   Marta Forsberg - Sjunger För...
260324   The New Boy - The New Boy( Th...
250324   The Stargazer’s Assistant - ...
250324   Liza Lim - Annunciation Trip...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom