Into Eternity

Dead or Dreaming (Century Media)
by Martin Popoff

Saskatchewan’s frighteningly talented genre-crossers Into Eternity take their current album up the food chain to Century Media, building on this buzz band’s highly-regarded past, boldly branching out, doing it all well, including the kick-ass cover art. But it’s the songs that have folks buzzing, Into Eternity no longer being an intriguing straddle of a couple worlds, but a confounder of many. There’s death, prog, traditional, black, hardcore, doom, all sent singularly unique through the band’s three lead vocalist dimensionality. Overall, one might call this obscure Maiden crossed with heavy Opeth – and then three or four InsideOut bands, y’know, spiritual, well-meaning prog metal by hopeless metal purists. Fave would be “Elysium Dream,” which rides a tight brisk frame, the band’s peculiar precise bass and bass drum sound well to the fore, twin leads thoughtful and well-rationed. Man, there’s so much to digest here, the band zestfully stripping the gears, maneuvering between styles, all, as I say, unified by the band’s vocal army, most pointedly the sonorous clear vocal. A complicated, mind-consuming trip, to be sure, and a rewarding one for the discerning metal fan.
(2323 W. El Segundo Blvd. Hawthorne, CA 90250)