Eternal Storm: From the Ashes (2013)

It is possible that Spain is becoming a new hotbed for melodic death metal.  Possible, but I am not totally sure about this because so far I only know about this one and Dawn of Tears.  My knowledge of Spanish heavy metal scenes is not remarkably high so I am likely just writing stuff for the sheer purpose of writing stuff at this moment.  I will stop now.

"Unfading Memories" kicks things off with a very pretty acoustic guitar melody.  Metalheads know what is coming next.  The title track kicks in and features a lot of Slaughter of the Soul-esque riffing.  That is pretty much how this album unfolds.  Eternal Storm is clearly influenced by a lot of the bands from both the Stockholm and Gothenburg death metal scenes of the early 1990's.  The band lists In Flames, Edge of Sanity, Dissection, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, Hypocrisy, and others as their influences and that pretty much tells you everything you need to know right there.

The songs are all fast and reasonably melodic, and most are fairly short, reinforcing the comparison to the At the Gates masterpiece mentioned earlier.  Some come across as surprisingly brutal, such as "Boundaries of Serenity", which has a much heavier main riff and deeper, more guttural vocals.  The songs are catchy and the album is short and fast enough to be an enjoyable listen.

Eternal Storm do a pretty decent job at combining the sounds of the two major Swedish death metal scenes.  What results is an often-powerful, yet melodic take on the style.  This is not the most original sound in the world, but it is an impressive enough debut.