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ETERNAL DARK

August 2005
Released: 1983, Backdoor Records
Rating: 5.0/5
Reviewer: Evil Rocker

Classic Album Review

After "Diamond Dreamer" significant line up changes took place with the departure of long time guitarist Jan Bectum and the vocalist, Avigal. They added two new guitar players (Jaarsveld & Van Manen) and a new vocalist, Peter Lovell. With this new line-up they achieved their masterpiece, the crown jewel of this bands career: "ETERNAL DARK".



This album is several shades darker that the previous and the addition of the two new guitar players have made a much thicker and heavier sound overall. The new vocalist also had a slightly rougher sound. The themes of this album were much darker ("Why do you listen to the holy man? Satan will take you, the only one who can.", "Don't try to calculate the power of evil".) Moreover, the sound was a bit more down-tuned. The leads were better. The result is one of the top 25 heavy metal albums of all time. Yes, I am aware that many have not even heard of this band, but that does not take away from the quality, power, and darkness of this album. HAMMERFALL covered "Eternal Dark" on an EP and even had some of the PICTURE band members perform with them in circa 2000.



This is a straight 1980's heavy metal with NWOBHM influence. There is no track on this album that I would not recommend. However, top tracks include "Eternal Dark", "Griffons Guard the Gold", "The Blade", "Into the Underworld", and "Power of Evil".