Review by Felix on March 31, 2023.

A glance at the past can be very instructive, but sometimes it is just shocking. I was aware of the fact that "Eternal" had failed to enthuse me at the time of its release, but I did not know anymore that it was so terribly weak. "Eternal" is the crippled sibling of "Passage". It is based on a similar approach, but it goes a step too far. The once heavy and bloodthirsty malignancy of Samael's sound is completely gutted. The mechanized coldness of "Passage" has made way for meaningless compositions with a standardized length of four minutes.

"Eternal" sounds groovy, lame, pompous and danceable (but I can't dance). Its electrified high gloss appearance is almost completely devoid of edges and corners. "Ways", for example, tends slightly to a harsher approach, but this does not mean that the song works. Samael are caught in their own formulaic method. Gothic influences and the almost omnipresent melancholy are in control of the mid-paced tunes. Yes, all of them have a relaxed tempo and this way of proceeding is simply tedious. Furthermore, it causes a collateral damage, because the pieces are absolutely interchangeable. The riffs are probably not the worst one, but they are subjugated by the "eternal" glue of the keyboards and the unnatural, wannabe majestic vocals. Thus, even a pretty coherent tune like "Supra Karma" does not fully convince.

Truly annoying are the frequently used background choirs that deliver nothing but endless "aaahaaahaaa". Is this the commercial rerecording of a Graveland record? No, things are much worse. Comparatively energetic songs like "I" may work in the context of this album, but from an objective point of view, this track or the also relatively strong, somewhat oriental "Infra Galaxia" do not have the power to keep the album above water. The electronic beats fail to create a metallic feeling while praying to the gods of sterility. And the worst is yet to come: the pretty idiosyncratic "Being" presents parts which should have never been heard outside of shabby bars of the red-light districts. Anyway, I was actually talking about the "highlights" of "Eternal" and the closer has its moments as well, because he provides more resilience than the vast majority of the other tracks. Too late, too little, the verdict is already clear.

The fifth full-length of the Swiss musicians bites off more than it can chew. To set a new sail in order to find new coasts is one thing, but to forget the homeland immediately is something different. Samael have forgotten to keep their metallic fundament and the new ideas result in a monotonous album whose profile even does not frighten the most anxious mainstream listener. The musicians have proved that they are able to pen fantastic albums, but it is also true that they are prone to realise immature ideas. At the end of the day, "Eternal" has nothing to offer for people who loved the blackness of "Ceremony of Opposites" or the sharpness of "Passage". Switzerland is well known for its great cheese, but this time, Samael deliver only its holes.

Rating: 3.7 out of 10