Band:	Into Eternity
Album:	Buried In Oblivion
Style:	Melodic death metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	February 10, 2004
Guest review by:	Arian Totalis

01. Splintered Visions
02. Embraced By Desolation
03. Three Dimensional Aperture
04. Beginning Of The End
05. Point Of Uncertainty
06. Spiraling Into Depression
07. Isolation
08. Buried In Oblivion
09. Black Sea Of Agony
10. Morose Seclusion

Hailing from Regina, Saskatchewan, are Into Eternity, a band for both progressive and death metal fans alike. Their sound is something which is unique, and distinct in the fact that there is over the top prog techniques being used, many clean/guttural vocal changes (with almost everyone in the band holding some vocal duty or other), and riffs straight out of the DM handbook. This album is their third release, and it is by far one of their most technical and thorough pursuits. The masters of many people's depression haunted minds really pulled off what could be called a prog masterpiece .

Into Eternity have a knack for creating music with a very desperate atmosphere. Throughout the album we see and feel characters go through some terrible anxiety and pain. With riffs that tend to drain the desperation directly from their souls and imbue it unto their instruments, we always see very real and euphoric depictions here. Their atmospheric prowess aside, these guys are beasts on the progressive aspect of things. Changes in meter, time signature, use of dynamics, all of it is just monstrous, and there aren't many tracks on this album that don't hold all of those qualities. Right from the first track "Splintered Visions" there is a ridiculously progressive intro/guitar solo that fluidly transitions into the rest of this very unpredictable album. The influence of Death Metal on this album is also quite apparent. In he songs "Embraced by Desolation" and "Isolation" we see low, intimidating growls, high black metal screeches, very distorted guitars, and intense work on double bass.

This album though, does have a side to it that isn't over the top progressive/melodic death metal. The two part title track "(Buried in Oblivion"/"Black sea of Agony") and "Morose Seclusion" are on he whole acoustic and primarily use clean vocal work. Of course these songs, like the rest on the album, are emotive and depressing, but they bring an entirely different aspect to the album. They are placed at good points and show a variation with their sound, not to mention that these songs are also quite heartfelt.

The only real criticism to be had for this album is how overly produced it is. A lot of the clean vocal work has too much layering over it, and as intense as it can be at times it seems like a little bit of the distortion 'crunch' per se has been taken out of it. Overall though for fans of prog as well as fans of Death Metal, this album is more than worth your time. Perhaps it's a bit more on the progressive side of things, but this album regardless is a genius witches' brew of sound.