ETERITUS - Rotten Transition (GODZ OV WAR - CD 2021)
Eteritus were yet to really convince me about the quality of their death metal. Their previous albums "Following the Ancient Path" and "Order of Death" were good and solid, sure, but I can't tell they dismembered me and if I bothered to play them even once since completing my previous reviews of this band. After listening to this new CD, I can be sure that it will change with "Rotten Transition", as this is definitely Eteritus' best effort yet and an album that shows a nice step forward for the band's "evolution”.
That evolution doesn't come with revolution, to be honest, so we are again treated with the old school death metal played a slightly Swedish way. They still have that characteristic HM2 guitar tone, as well as some classic sounding riffs and harmonies. But when I listen to the whole album, I can sense that Eteritus really took some time with incorporating some different and more varied, sometimes more unusual arrangements and ideas. I mean the guitar work is quite nice here, some leads or harmonies delivered by Slav are just brilliant. This death metal doesn't need to be fast and utterly straight forward in order to sound interesting. Actually, "Rotten Transition" is mostly mid or slow paced, sometimes it has almost an atmospheric or progressive feel (like with “Angel’s Cunt” - what a title hah!), other time the music has a quite strong thrashing influence too (listen to such "Evil Remains"). So, there’s always something going on and it never bores. I enjoyed it and frankly speaking, I cannot think of anything what would really bother me.
I think that Eteritus came up with quite a surprising recording, for me this band gained a new level with "Rotten Transition". And I just realized that this album presents completely new line up (Slav being the only remaining member from the previous albums). I am not sure how much has it affected the composing process, but the album is very good, indeed.
Standout tracks: “Angel’s Cunt”, “Frozen Towers”
Verdict: 80/100
