THE ETERNAL: The Sombre Light of Isolation

Produced by Mark McCormack and The Eternal

Released: 2004

After close to a decade as Cryptal Darkness, line-up changes and wrangles with labels finally resulted in this band becoming The Eternal. With their debut album, this group made its presence felt immediately. The Sombre Light of Isolation is an overwhelming release that was one of the best albums to surface in 2004.

The Eternal didn't exactly break much new ground with this, but what they did was create a masterful album that weaves its slow and majestic way through moments of Katatonia-like melodic Goth metal such as “Down” and “A Cruel Misfortune” to stark, grim tracks like the bleak, rumbling closing track, “All Hope Lost” with a dark sense of purpose. A guest appearance by vocalist Darren White late in the piece provides what is possibly the highlight in the brooding “Remembrance Scars”, a song that evokes the forboding darkness of White-era Anathema or even My Dying Bride’s Turn Loose the Swans. The Sombre Light of Isolation is an album that grows darker as it moves on, with the pairing of the title track plus the awesome “Black Serenity” providing a bridge between the melody-drenched first half and the mournful gloom of the later tracks.

The Eternal won themselves plenty of acclaim with this album, and rightly so. Because it’s a masterpiece.

1. Commemorate the Misery
2. A Cruel Misfortune
3. The Eternal
4. Down
5. The Sombre Light of Isolation
6. Black Serenity
7. Crimson Sacrifice
8. Harmony of Dissonance
9. Remembrance Scars
10. All Hope Lost

Rating: 98%