BURIED IN OBLIVION

While progressive in nature, this album contains influences from a wide variety of metal sub-genres and each individual song flows from one vocal style to the next effortlessly...just mind-boggling!

The vocals are varied but you won't find any "beauty and the beast" here, there are no female vocals included on this album, which is perhaps the only thing one could argue is missing here. This album includes some screaming and some raging guttural growls associated with the more extreme metal sub-genres. This added flavor will disappoint some listeners but it is required of the genre and style of music we find here. One quick look at the song titles reveals much about the lyrical content and theme of the album. I mean the title is a dead giveaway. But, what makes the album so special to me is the way the band mixes all those influences into one cohesive album. Imagine finding not one but two classically flavored acoustic power ballads on one album and then still consider that album to be way ahead of a plethora of other extreme progressive metal albums out right now.

"Splintered Vision" opens the album with some speedy twin guitar arpeggios that swell up and down very effectively I might add. The song blooms into a very pounding fast paced track. The band wastes no time introducing the listener to the many vocal styles found throughout the album. The production is clean and it is more closely associated with what we usually hear on albums of the more pristine power metal genre.

"Embraced by Desolation" has this most intriguing stop and start cadence that again is very effective at creating this sense of chaos that comes together in a most powerful chorus. More arpeggios performed at lightning fast speeds are included here and there. The track even comes to an abrupt end right on the final note of a fast swelling arpeggio.

Two songs into the album and the listener is taken in by the outstanding musicianship and the precision with which the boys come together is just crazy.

Next up is "3 Dimensional Aperture" and it is very heavy from the get go. The screams, the guttural growls, the clean higher octave voice, all included here. The blast beats, the shredding guitars, more swelling arpeggios, will have you wondering where these guys came from exactly? Is it really from Regina, Canada, or was that just a cover story to hide the fact these guys are actually from another planet?

"Beginning of the End" starts interesting enough with spurts of blast beats, more screaming à la Shadows Fall, more growls and more clean vocals to entertain you. Rob Doherty and Tim Roth are very capable guitarists, who like to play their solos lightning fast with short and quick little swelling arpeggios. Very cool, almost like a trademark of the band by now. Anyway, at this point in the album I've come to expect those swells every now and then.

Matter of fact, "Point of Uncertainty" opens with more swelling arpeggios. There's more of those start and stop cadences included in some parts of the song. I also really like the way the band moves into overdrive. It's always done progressively and it is something they do regularly well. During the last minute of this track, the double bass drum, bass and guitars are going so fast as to create what appears to be a series of very short swelling arpeggios that create yet a bigger swelling effect but this time done by the increase and decrease in the intensity of those short little swelling arpeggios. Very cool! I'd like to see the band try to recreate this awesome effect in a live setting?

The band finally decide to slow the pace down somewhat (even if it's only for the opening moments), and "Spiraling into Depression" is another fine example of the outstanding musical compositions and awesome musicianship found on the album.

"Isolation" arrives and totally blows you away all over again. Where do these guys come from again? Unbelievably talented bunch of blokes I tell you. This track plays out much like a recap of everything we found on the album so far. There's a little bit of everything here. All of the technical stuff they've done on the album is included on this one track. So if you want to know what you are getting into, this may very well be the best track to sample.

Then the band throws a wild pitch at you with the album title track "Buried in Oblivion." They appear to go all acoustic, beautiful clean vocals (in the higher octaves) and nice harmonies, with a sweet little electric guitar solo and an excellent twin acoustic guitar solo. A power ballad was totally unexpected, but very refreshing. Pleasantly surprised indeed, I enjoyed this song very much.

"Buried in Oblivion" flows smoothly into "Black Sea of Agony," a return to form with full band in tow. Another excellent track with some good clean vocals and excellent guitar work. One of the highlights for me. Sample lyrics:

"Wind blows out of control, unrelated unrelenting, alone I drift off again, diminishing the pain, take away my sanity, this vessels shielding all I see, block out all the thoughts of inner rage, protect me from myself..."

The band then throws another screw ball at you by going all acoustic again. With only the first opening bars of music, I was immediately reminded of ballads by 3 Doors Down and The Calling? I mean, WTF? But, with the higher octave vocals, "Morose Seclusion" simply rounds out and ends the album perfectly.

Late last year, I surprised a buddy of mine with this album, knowing his penchant for progressive power music, I thought he might get a kick out of it. One year later and he's still talking about Buried in Oblivion.

This album will not appeal to everyone and I can't really compare this to anyone either because it really is nothing like anything I`ve heard before. Sure, I've heard acoustic power ballads in the past, but Into Eternity is truly an original band with a most refreshing approach and superb mix of vocal styles that works better here than on any other CD I've heard before.

In the end, there's a little bit of everything for everyone here...highly recommended!

Into Eternity is just amazing... with all their time change and their abilities to make energitic music.. a great mix of clean and harsh vocal that i can compare to Opeth for the arrangement and the feeling. And what about the musicians, the guitar riff and the drum line is just amazing. Yes another great band who show you what canadian musician can make !!!

Buried in Oblivion is a release that showcases an extreme band under the influence of Dream Theater.

The first statement sums up the style of the album. This album is the Extreme Metal link to Dream Theater. Though this album is Progressive Death Metal, it takes much less influence from European bands like Opeth and Edge of Sanity, but makes up for it with the American Progressive Metal influence from bands like Dream Theater. The vocals match the current style the band is playing. The band goes from tones so heavy they could outweigh an elephant to tones that showcase the virtoso skill that Progressive Metal is known for. Fans of heavier Progressive Metal bands will find this a very interesting listen.

The vocal arrangements are quite interesting, but I would be unjust to mention anything other than the guitars first. Tim Roth and Rob Doherty are two guitarists that have some of the finest skills in Extreme Metal. The unison arpeggios and trades of solos make these guys who they are. The rythymn work is quite complex, where they show the funk-styled Dream Theater style.

Now to the vocals. A piece of identity for this band is the vocal variation. All but one member of the band sings. Most members sing only Extreme vocals, but the lead vocalist Scott Krall sings both styles quite well. While his clean voice may be a bit aggressive, it perfectly fits the style of the band. The other vocalist really make this album and interesting listen when the listener has grown more familar with the album.

The drums are powerful, they never miss a beat. The fills are often and appreciated. The bass drum is variant where the Extreme Metal blast-beats are replaced with the Progressive influenced syncopation.

The bass is in the background for the most part. During the unison guitar arpeggios, the bass does some really fancy work with the rythymns underneath. The playing isn't outstanding, but the bass does not play an important role in Extreme bands, so the listener will most likely get what they expect.

The production is great for and Extreme Metal band. The guitars are much clearer than more typical bands of this style. The drums have exceptional clarity too. Once again I have to complain about the bass not playing an important enough role in the mix, but it fits the style. This album is not a perfect release, but it approachs topic quality from shear musicality.

Buried in Oblivion is possibly Into Eternity best album to date, following the direction of their previous album and incorporating even more progressive elements from bands such as Opeth, Dream Theater (most obvious influence) and others. The most evident improvement has to be the vocals. Chris Krall provides incredible vocal melodies and death grunts with great quality and the switch between the two styles creates an outstanding feel to their music. Another improvement has to be their melodies. They've lost almost entirely there rhythm repetition from the other previous albums and made each song have their own distinctive sound.

Into Eternity has taken the next step with Buried in Oblivion by creating a more unique sound rather than the same dull sound that they made in their first two albums. The first noticeable song is "Beginning of the End", which creates a great sound by combining brutal heavy riffs with a melodic chorus. Other songs like "Spiraling into Depression" (which has the most DT riffs) and "Isolation" create a sound of despair and solitude something that comes from Tim Roth's losses of family and friends. "Buried in Oblivion" (title track) is a complete acoustic track similar to those in Opeth but with more melody that serves as the intro for the stand out song of the album: "Black Sea of Agony". This song has an incredible flow and follows the same rhythm of Buried in Oblivion but in a heavier manner of course. Last but not least is Morose Seclusion. Morose Seclusion has the same idea of Buried in Oblivion but in a more developed way.

In overall Buried in Oblivion is a dark, heavy, kinda melancholic experience of progressive death metal. It's better than their previous and upcoming albums.

Into Eternity is one of the good bands from younger generation coming from Canada in tech/extreme subgenre. Their music is a combination between Yngwie Malmsteen (the arpegios, faster guitar solos, neo classical aproach) with the riffs , the growls of for ex Death or Becoming the Archetype, the progressive metal arrangements remind me of Dream Theater, even some Nevermore or In Flames elements are here and there. So a very interesting mix of technical death metal, power metal, and progressive metal. It works quite well for the most part and the skill of the players is undeniable. having their last three albums, it seams to me that this one is their best for sure. Here the band has some very good ideas melting with some fantastic musicianship, resulting a very solid album in this zone. I like very much how alternates the clean vocals with the growling ones, even sometimes the passages remind a little bit of Gardenian but more progressive for sure then the swedish band. When I first look on their page here and reading some of the reviews I simply can't belive how low rated this band is here and I wonder why???. I mean from all 5 albums released byt he band, only one - this one has good reviews, positive almost all of them, the rest of the albums are puted on the wall if like they were the worst albums ever made in this subgenre. It's not true at all, don't belive everything you read, trust me listners, I know myself. About this album is fast, is technical, has some fantastic guitar chops and above all one hell of a drumer. 3 pieces stands on this album named Buried into oblivion as among the best of the genre IMO, Splintered Visions, Embraced by Desolation and Isolation, absolutly great tracks that will kick out of your socks for sure, I was very impressed, killer songs. So, a true rewarding album in the end that desearve from me for sure 4 stars, their next albums will be not so great but still good and enjoyble. Recommended, great and yet underrated album og the genre.

'Buried In Oblivion' - Into Eternity (7/10)

Into Eternity has been a derisive band for me in the past when it comes to exacting judgement upon them. On one hand, they are incredible musicians and have a sound that is distinct enough to call their own. On the other, their songwriting has often passed me as being quite shallow, especially when is taken into account that they are a progressive metal act. Although 'A Scattering Of Ashes' may always be the record held closest to- or at least, least far from- my heart, the bands third album 'Buried In Oblivion' is arguably the greatest statement of their career as a band. Although the same maudlin cheesiness and recycled songwriting is present in this album as well, Into Eternity manages to make the heaviness heavier, melodies brighter, and chaos, well... more chaotic than ever with this one.

Into Eternity's sound is a hectic breed of prog, death, and power metal, coming together to create something complex, heavy, thrashy, technical and... catchy? As much as it may sound counter-intuitive, Into Eternity manages to throw soaring melodies into each chorus that are instantly memorable. Better still, this is at no loss to the complexity of the riffs and instrumentation, which keeps up breakneck speeds and numerical shredding, only letting down for the album's surprisingly emotive acoustic moments. On top of the excellent musicianship that the band sports, there are some very powerful vocals. I find that singing in progressive metal of this technical calibre can tend to distract, rather than to compliment the listening experience, but here, the vocals are erratic and as technically skilled as the instruments. It should be noted that every member of the band does some vocal bit here, so the vocals are constantly throwing something new and unexpected at the listener.

Sadly, the songwriting here is not so unexpected as the exciting way the band presents it. To start, the songwriting is fairly similar in structure to what was head on past albums, like the pathetic 'Dead Or Dreaming' record. Into Eternity's style of songwriting is fairly predictable, and sometimes even feels like a cut-and-paste of unrelated riffs to adhere to a standard song formula, at its worst. 'Buried In Oblivion' is thankfully still a large step above anything the band had done in the past though; the song structures may still feel derivative and simplistic, but the ideas themselves are generally excellent. The band even tries their hand at some more ambitious composition with the 'Buried In Oblivion' and 'Black Sea Of Agony' tie-in, a two track suite that flows perfectly into the other, creating a longer piece that crowns this album wonderfully.

I had heard that 'Buried In Oblivion' was 'a masterpiece', 'mind-blowing', and even 'one of the greatest metal albums of all time'. I cannot see Into Eternity's current formula ever taking them that far, and 'Buried In Oblivion' is no exception. While still feeling a bit amateurish on the side of songwriting, Into Eternity makes huge steps forward here, and even as someone who has rarely been impressed by the band as a whole in the past, 'Buried In Oblivion' is a great album to me.