Artist: Sear Bliss
Title: Eternal Recurrence
Type: Album
Label: Candlelight Records

Sear Bliss have two obvious selling points; one being that they incorporate brass instruments into their sound which is still not that common in metal, and two that they hail from Hungary; a country which I struggle to think of any other successful artists to emerge from. Some bands need a gimmick, and when you strip that away then you are left with something distinctly dull, or average at best. Selling points aside, Sear Bliss are just a damn good band and the music speaks for itself. It was really difficult for me to begin with; the songs here just weren’t gelling for me and I was afraid I was going to have to give this album a not-so-favourable review which is never a nice thing to do when it’s a band you really like. Thankfully I had plenty of time to listen to this and get my head around the music and with perseverance it all began to click into place.

So this was a really difficult album to get into and took a while to grow on me, but it was greatly rewarding in the end. Exuding high levels of sophistication, this all unfolds rather evenly at a continuous mid-pace. It has an air of composure; a steady cascade of resplendence and sorrowful vibrancy. ‘The Eternal Quest’ embarks with a powerful rhythm section and sturdy drumming while as the callous rasps of Andras Nagy fad out, the brass instrumentation slickly works its way in and makes itself heard. The trumpets, etc. seem a bit more stripped back than on previous efforts, although still they are utilised well and I like the fact that they don’t totally saturate the music with this constantly and overshadow the rhythm section. ‘Ballad Of The Shipwrecked’ washes up to shore with an overwhelming feeling of warmth, and a clean majestic vocal line to suit which I totally adore. The melody would seem to float across tranquil ocean waves as an aura of dejection sweeps across deck. This is a really beautiful track and one of my favourites on the album.

There is a rather avant-garde feel to this album in parts, and at times I want to draw comparisons to Arcturus, Code or Vulture Industries especially on ‘Entering The Seventh Gate’. The vocals here are completely mad, while hushed whispers and creepy sounds swirl around the vortex. This one is rather hypnotic at times, while mixing in some progressive touches and a very Code-esque bassline. ‘Great Cosmic Disorder’ plays out with a really cosmic sparkle as one is lured into a chaotic field of swooshing crepuscular synths and madness, storming drums gradually leading us out as the brass section once again seeps through. A great muscular riff brings us to ‘A Lost Cause’, which flows effortlessly between powerful chorus and more mellow verse which is much more cerebral and forlorn, more than a tinge of sadness showing through in the clean vocals. The rhythm section packs a real punch, and there’s a bit of Enslaved in the rich yet harsh booming sound. ‘The New Era Of Darkness’ plays out with more of a metallic clang scraping through the dark, brooding ambience.

This is definitely not an album to give you an instant fix, but good things come to those who wait right and after 10 or so listens this is a great album and an early contender for my top albums of 2012 already (8/10, Luci Herbert)

www.searbliss.hu