ETERNAL DEFORMITY — The Beauty of Chaos (review)

ETERNAL DEFORMITY — The Beauty of Chaos album cover

Album · 2012 · Melodic Death Metal

4.5/5 · 2012-04-02
adg211288

The Beauty of Chaos is the fifth album by Polish act Eternal Deformity. The 2012 album is my first encounter with them, and it’s also their first release since 2007’s Frozen Circus. Although what I’ve read about the band would have me believe I should be expecting some kind of avant-garde hybrid of doom and melodic death metal, this isn’t really the case on The Beauty of Chaos. The melodic death part is certainly true enough, but it’s spiced with more progressive flavours than it is avant-garde, and I don’t detect anything to do with doom metal about the release. It does however draw on symphonic sounds a fair bit.

But misconceptions aside, Eternal Deformity creates an interesting sound on The Beauty of Chaos. The arrangements of the tracks are interesting and complex with symphonic keyboards used to effect with the guitars without being overbearing and there is progressive implementation aplenty. The songs are generally over the six minute mark with the exception of the first two, the very first of which is an intro. Drawn out instrumental passages are to be expected. Additionally the group uses three distinct vocal styles, done between two vocalists, so expect clean vocals along with both high and low growling. The low growls put me firmly in mind with death metal while the high growls wouldn’t sound out of place in a number of styles. The clean vocals are technically the weakest of the three styles but fit with the group’s music well enough, creating a kind of melancholic sound that works to especially great effect during the lighter sections of Eternal Deformity’s music. Overall it’s quite the atmospheric experience, heavy, yet without an in your face level of intensity and always melodic.

Compositionally we’re talking something pretty interesting. The Beauty of Chaos is one of those albums that grabbed me right from the off and refused to let go after that. While I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s an album where all songs can be considered highlights in their own right, it maintains a consistently high level of quality with the odd track pushing their boundaries right up to the highest levels. The earliest example of them doing just that is the track Lifeless but distinction of being a standout can also be applied to Caught Out Lying and the epic closer The Holy Decay. With the exception of the intro track, although it is better than most, The Beauty of Chaos is highly enjoyable from start to finish.

The Beauty of Chaos is an excellent album that I’m sure will have a pretty wide appeal among metal fans. Their mix of influences from three styles blends together in such a natural way that I find it impossible not to get drawn in. Overall it’s about borderline between being great and exceptional, but I think an exceptional rating is just about deserved.

8.5/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))