Review on blackwindmetal.com Let’s face it, the French are wildly unpredictable when it comes to metal. Even a label of “power metal” will get you everything from Nightmare to Manigance to Heavenly to Wildpath, and…well that’s more or less it, actually. Anyways, receiving Eternal Flight’s 2011 release, Diminished Reality, Elegies, And Mysteries was an exciting step into the unknown for me. Little to anyone’s surprise, Eternal Flight manage to sound little or nothing like any of the more popular French power metal bands that I’ve already name-dropped, and are rather singular indeed. Blending mid-paced, pared-back power metal with some occasional progressive elements, very solid production, and some excellent clutch rhythm guitar playing and drumwork, Eternal Flight wowed me a bit with the sheer variety that they roll out on Diminished Reality…. Combine these elements with the smooth tenor of Gérard Fois, and I was taken aback and, in truth, somewhat captivated. The first thing that one ought to understand about Eternal Flight, at least on this, their latest album, is that the band utilizes a rich, if understated, harmonic landscape that abounds in subtlety. Even though rhythms and melodies may seem simplistic, little twists present themselves frequently, and quite often songs and melodies meander off in directions that I’d never have expected. “Fantasea”, with it’s middle narration section, as well as the chorus: “Sail on the sea of your wild imagination”, exemplifies this behavior. Background vocal supplements, such as those heard during the introduction of opener “Release To Unreal”, provide a great atmospheric boost, as do the major/minor shifts (often to minor during the chorus). Be warned: if you’re looking for the archetypical, slayingly melodic power metal chorus, you shan’t find it here. In fact, upon first listen, I didn’t care for the majority of this album overly much. After a couple more spins however, the band’s approach began to grow on me, until I finally became quite taken with it. I remember being impressed by the digipak, artwork, and lyricism inside when I received the album, saying to a fellow Black Wind writer “I’m either going to love this, or be extremely disappointed”. Well it seems I willed myself to like it so much that I’ve achieved this end, much to my (and I’m sure the band’s) delight. Not that this album is the picture of perfection: I find myself easing off borderline musical nirvana during the more straight-ahead “Freedom Is My Race”, and am routinely a bit crestfallen when I get to it. However, the dark stomp of “Nightmare King” is a welcome return to form, and it is here that I first decided that Eternal Flight sounds, at times, like a less dense and more atmospheric version of Manticora (and there is nothing whatsoever wrong about that, for anyone that knows of my dark power metal obsession). Only instead of a writhing tentacular morass, (yes, that’s how I think of Manticora), Eternal Flight’s sound runs more towards a sometimes gloomy, sometimes dreamy fen of mists and shadows. The band’s slower songs, such as “Firedancer” and “Black Sun”, do tend to wear on a bit at times (though I do enjoy the former), and I can understand the complaint that some power metal fans may aim at Diminished Reality…: that of being limp or unenergetic. However, the argument of sounding redundant holds no weight here. The point at which I felt this was going to happen was at the beginning of “The Meeting”. At first, this song may sound like a half-baked continuation of the already so-so “Black Sun”, but everything goes to hell around the two-minute mark, and things remain interesting for the remainder of the song. So, the French have given me the sublime symphonic grandeur of Wildpath, the ripping intensity of Nightmare, the glorious power metal majesty of Heavenly, and now the subtly complex strains of Eternal Flight. This heretofore unheard-of band has made me a near-instant fan, but I recommend this album with caution. Once again I spell out: this may seem simplistic, it may seem boring, and it may not seem terribly melodic. However, if you enjoy a good bout of challenging power/prog that takes its time working up to a whirling maelstrom of intensity, you may well enjoy Diminished Reality, Elegies, And Mysteries to the same extent as I. Bravo! Dan’s Rating: 4.0 out of 5 Review on users.telenet.be/metaltoinfinity.com Since Myspace.com became an annoying slow website I am a regular visitor of Facebook. It also gives me the opportunity to get in touch with bands and musicians all over the world. It gives the possibility to make specialized pages and so Stefan created a page for US Metal fanatics. Gérard Fois, singer of Eternal Flight, became a member and so I got in touch with him. He wrote a message about his band and from the moment he wrote this French band was mostly influenced by the US Metal scène I became extremely interested. The next step was that this friendly front man send me a copy of the “D.R.E.A.M.S.” album This seems to be a concept CD and the letters are standing for ‘Diminished’, ‘Reality’, ‘Elegies’ ‘And’ ‘Mysteries’. At the back of the booklet the story behind the concept is explained but what’s more is that the band dedicates their album to Metal Gods like Ronnie James Dio, Carl Albert, Midnight, Dimebag Darrell, Chris Oliva…not by coincidence pioneers of some of the best Metal albums ever written. In the knowledge these are the idols of the band members I was thrilled to listen to this one… But there’s more; Chris Caffery, the Brazilian drummer Ricardo Confessori, the Swedish Rob Love Magnusson and my favourite Vicious Rumors guitarist / song writer Marc McGee lend their talents to this CD. So what do you want more? So if you’re into the Progressive kind (or what did you expect?) of Power Metal Eternal Flight can offer you lots of things! The albums takes off with a short atmospheric intro to deliver one after another qualitative song after. As far as I know this is the band’s third effort and although I heard the band before it is the first time they receive all of my attention. You don’t hear me complain because this is indeed a very good album although I can’t describe it as a pure kind of Eighties US Power Metal. Nevertheless at some points I did discover this typical kind of fast and sharp riffs can be heard. Eternal Flight adds often lots of Progressive ingredients into their music and this gives them their own character. That’s good, that’s very good… It’s a modern band but I don’t always hear the influences from the list of bands they’re comparing their selves with. I hear a very good singer! Gérard Fois, and this has nothing to do with the fact I received a personal message from him, has a very good voice. His timbre is clear and strong, is wide ranged and he’s for a very big part responsible for the fact Eternal Flight isn’t another ‘middle of the road’ band. His vocal sound fits the music very well, a first statement to make me believe in this band. But there’s more and besides the fact this formations contains two awesome guitarists, responsible for lots of impressive leads and great riffs, there seems to be an intelligent song writer behind this band. The arrangements are very good written and each single song knows its highlights. Once again I’d like to attend you that first class fine snared guitar solos can be heard. Good song writing, no doubt and after a few listens I can only say the band offers a very varied album. Do I have the feeling listening to a concept album? No, that’s to me the only failure of this record. To me these are ten separated tracks which are not connected and that’s a pity. Although some great samples are weaved into the music to create a specific atmosphere I miss this feeling. But again, Eternal Flight delivers me a good album, one that could have made it in my top 20 of last year. The acoustic parts, the subtle keyboards, the dark elements that are composed… “Nightmare king” is one of my favourite songs and must be heard by every fanatic of this kind of music! Awesomeness in its purest form! Same counts for “Black Sun”, what an overwhelming intro and what a superb acoustic guitar sole; the kind that gives me cold shivers! Eternal Flight is able to seduce, to take the listener by the throat but it will take time! This is the kind of album that grows… Eternal Flight delivers a first class album. A mixture of US Metal (Seven Witches, Cypher Seer, Kamelot,…) with bands like Lanfear (Germany), Eldritch (Italy), Shadowkeep (Engeland), Tad Morose (Sweden)… None of these bands were given an honest chance to break through no matter how good they really are. It’s a selected part of the Metal scène who enclosures this kind of bands into their arms but satisfaction is guaranteed. From now on Eternal Flight deserves its place in this specific row! Checkhttp://www.myspace.com/eternalflight. My Points: 90 / 100 (Review by Officer Nice)