Band:	Sear Bliss
Album:	Eternal Recurrence
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	January 23, 2012
A review by:	R'Vannith

01. The Eternal Quest
02. Ballad Of The Shipwrecked
03. Great Cosmic Disorder
04. A Lost Cause
05. The New Era Of Darkness
06. There's No Shadow Without Light
07. Entering The Seventh Gate

Sometimes music can get your attention and set you up for a new experience but fail to proceed anywhere. The latest release from black metal outfit Sear Bliss has this effect, it is geared toward an experimental melodic black induced with brass instrumentation which unfortunately keeps shooting itself in the foot.

This album has its oddities; attempts to craft strange atmospheres such as the thickly jazzy and symphonic swerving of "The Eternal Chaos" or "Ballad of the Shipwrecked," which has appropriately added sounds of water in motion and the creaking of wooden planks. Yet, whatever interesting pieces they manage to compile and spread throughout the album are fitted to an ultimately bland melodic vein. Prone to a repetitiveness that draws heavily on the attention, it really requires an effort to continue through the duration of each track. With that said each track does have its own peculiar characteristics but not nearly enough to make them clearly distinguishable from that pervasive monotony.

This is true especially of the latter half of the album which bears little in the way of anything that extends beyond the lethargy which the album is prone to. The vocal work performed by Nagy on this album doesn't seem to help either, whether of the harsh or clean variety they add to the drag considerably, rarely presenting themselves in enough differing ways to break the spell of an inescapable drudge. The closing track "Entering the Seventh Gate" is an exception, offering some nasally variation to the vocal work which, when coupled with backing whispers and the gradual relinquishing of black metal riffs creates a bizarre effect. The clean vocals on tracks like "A Lost Cause" have a becoming charm and an almost crooning style and entice you into an environment which is ultimately unsatisfying.

As far as black metal goes this has an irregular charm about it aided by the melodies which are emboldened with a digestible avant-garde touch. The only wall which you are likely to encounter will present itself once you delve a significant distance past its intriguingly murky surface and discover its monotony.