Eternal Reign
FORBIDDEN PATH

August 2005
Released: 2005, SPV
Rating: 1.5/5
Reviewer: Evil Rocker

This is the second album by Germany's ETERNAL REIGN (formerly known as PERFECT CRIME), who after some searching of my memory bank I recall that I have seen them live at H.O.A. 2004. My review of their show went as follows: "ETERNAL REIGN was average boring routine stuff." Yet, I had read some preliminary press on this album, which made it sound worth to give a try.



OK, so what do we have here? We have a six piece German "power metal" (oh how I hate that misused label) band including two guitarists and full time keyboardist. The vocalist Dirk Stuhmer sounds pretty much like any number of German singers with decent range and at times a bit reminiscent of Tobias ``Neo`` Althammer (LANFEAR). However, this band is nowhere in the same league as LANFEAR. While the style and general sound is similar, there is simply nothing special to be found here. This is weak, VERY average German metal. The vocals do not offer any passion, the music sadly has no sustaining riffs or hooks. In fact, the best track on the album is probably the instrumental opener "Gate to Infinity". Here and there, you might momentarily get into a riff (i.e. "Edge of the World") but it always fades into an unremarkable drudge of routine "power metal".



If you are looking for this modern German style of melodic metal try LANFEAR, a far superior act. If you are looking for true German metal stay away entirely. So, in conclusion, ETERNAL REIGN "Forbidden Path" is average, boring, routine stuff."