Release Date: Mar 18, 2008
Label: Ferret
Genres: Death Metal, Metalcore
Number Of Tracks: 11
The interesting variety in sound without seeming to be there for the sake of it means that there’s never a dull moment on Blessed Be This Nightmare.
Blessed Be This NightmareFeatured review by: UG Team, on march 18, 2008 2 of 4 people found this review helpful
Sound: It’s not every day you see a death metal band emerge from a place like Swindon, England, especially not one with a name like 'Eternal Lord’, however the band are certainly worth taking notice of. They’re starting to gain some more popularity among people who’s lives don’t revolve around MySpace, and there’s good reason for that. A label like 'deathcore’ is one that plenty of people will avoid like the plague, with frankly pathetic outfits such as Bring Me The Horizon chug-squee’ing their way to success. Eternal Lord, however, is something quite different.
They’ve got real style and power. They clearly enjoy doing what they do and they pull it off with finesse and creativity that is missing from this genre. The vocals of Ed Butcher, for starters, are actually quite good and that alone is one thing that makes this band stand out from countless bands that you’ll see labelled in a similar way. However, dismissing Eternal Lord simply as 'just another deathcore band’ is a big mistake, as they incorporate so much more into their sound that just death metal brutality and metalcore grooves. There’s a lot of melody as well, subtle little clean guitar parts and even a fully acoustic song to be found on 'Blessed Be This Nightmare’. Their riffs are very slick and the guitarists Shaun Zerebecki and Chris Gregory clearly have influences ranging from Gothenburg melodic death bands to progressive metal acts to hardcore greats such as Refused. This interesting variety in sound without seeming to be there for the sake of it means that there’s never a dull moment on 'Blessed Be This Nightmare’. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: Well, the lyrics are hardly distinguishable giving the style of vocals, and there is no access to printed lyrics so there is not really an awful lot that can be said on the lyrics of the album, so the score is 9 only to manipulate the average score to a more accurate representation of what I think of the album. // 9
Impression: 'Blessed Be This Nightmare’ is a quality album. There’s no denying that and I’m very impressed by this band. They’re a good unit and from a technical standpoint each musician does a great job, especially drummer and producer Stuart Mackay. From the almost black-metally feel of 'O’Brothel Where Are Thou’ to the acoustic number 'Amity’ to the crushing title track, the solidarity of Eternal Lord is very impressive. If you don’t fancy going out on a limb and buying this album, than at least give a few songs from it a listen on their website because this band really deserve some attention, and hopefully the US release and full length promotion of 'Blessed Be This Nightmare’ will help garner them that praise they deserve for this work. // 9
Blessed Be This Nightmare
Reviewed by:
SealCubMassacre, on march 18, 2008 3 of 5 people found this review helpful
Sound: British deathcore band Eternal Lord formed in 2005 after the surprise split of metalcore group Hunt for Ida Wave. After a few line-up changes in 2007 with their bassist and vocalist (now playing in melodic hardcore group Dreaming in Oceans) they recruited current vocalist Ed Butcher, who's shock exit from Australian metalcore legends I Killed the Prom Queen allowed him to re-unite with his old HFIW members in Eternal Lord. As shown by the tracks from the record released earlier on in the year, the new sound is a change in direction from the Eternal Lord the underground UK metal scene came to love with their self titled EP and split record with Glasweigan group Azriel, prefering to go in a much heavier (helped with the change of tuning from Drop B to drop A#) and beatdown dominant feel reminiscent of the likes of The Acacia Strain and Bury Your Dead than the comfortable stock metalcore sound of old.
The album's opener "Hot to Trot" starts with an ambient build up of tension which leads to quite an anti-climatic beatdown. This dull and generic start leaves you dissapointed straight away, yet sets the tone which is consistant throughout the whole of the record. Track "Set Your Anchor" starts with a drum solo very (almost too) reminiscent of An Autopsy by American tech-deathers The Faceless, with the majority of the guitar work very bland and too similar to The Acacia Strain for my liking. The record starts to pick up after the halfway mark with the melodic and satisfying "I, The Deceiver" which takes a couple of pages from the Misery Signals book of melodic metalcore. This is certainly the stand out track amongst the album both in quality and style, as it is completely different from all the other tracks on the CD in it's melodic and use uplifting arpeggios. After this point the record seems to take a much more traditional metal approach similar to the likes of At The Gates and even traces of Pantera thrown in to the mix (as shwon by "The Damned's" intro). The obligitory-acoustic-metalcore track is not missing on this record with the painfully boring "Amity", but the record ends satisfyingly enough with the beatdown-laden title track to wrap up a very inconsistant record indeed. // 6
Lyrics and Singing: Controversial vocalist Ed-Butcher has plenty of fans (mostly residing in Australia after his brief stint with I Killed the Prom Queen) and haters amongst the metal scene, who's attitudes are unlikely to change after hearing this record. His Tazmanian-Devil style grunts and screams compliment the record well but haven't seemed to progress much since the Hunt for Ida Wave days, which is slightly dissapointing. His lyrics have enough imagery and despair to keep most metal fans happy and follow the old pre-Butcher EL and familiar theme of the ocean and death ("I've filled my lungs with all the icy cold water, these sea's wont let me breath"). Although they are dark enough, the theme is just too overdone and seems to be a fashionable phase in the metal scene at the moment. If you're a fan of Butcher's vocals in his old bands, then I doubt you'll have a changed view upon listening to this record. // 5
Impression: Eternal Lord had a lot to live up to after the impressiveness of their records of old, but with a new vocalist the change of sound was inevitable and is almost unrecognisable of the band before the arrival of Butcher. It's heavy enough to keep most people happy but the use of breakdowns is just too overdone and brings nothing new to the table at all. At times you get the impression that they can't decide whether they want to rip off the likes of The Acacia Strain/Bury your Dead or the more melody focused Misery Signals/For The Fallen Dreams. It's consistantly dull and at times it's lack of originality is cringe worthy, although it does have it's positive moments with title track "Blessed be this Nightmare" and "I, The Deciever", the latter undoubtedly the superior track on the album. If it's heavy you want then it's heavy you'll get, just don't expect anything original or even interesting. If this record got stolen I probably wouldn't notice it was missing, and even if I did notice I really wouldn't care. Disapointing and dull. // 6
I almost threw up when I saw that Revolver gave this 2 out of 5 stars. It's so awesome. Maybe not a perfect album but Ed Butcher is easily one of the best scream/growlers ever.
it sounds like bury your dead trying to play death metal. nothing new or special, but still enjoyable i guess. too many breakdowns. i love breakdowns, but these aren't that great.
There is so much that stands Eternal Lord apart from other metalcore bands on this album.
I don't believe you should be hunting their songs for 'rip offs'. EL have taken their influences and turned it into their own. Like true metal bands should.
There are so many metalcore bands that are copy cats and just conformed in the 'rules' of the modern metalcore scene.
Blessed Be This Nightmare is a very refreshing album for me as they are not following that at all.
They have NOT just thrown 20 riffs together and a breakdown in every song.
Every section works into each other very well, either flowing or creating some powerful tension.
The clean, melodic sections have so much beauty and harmony about them that they don't need cliché melodic vocals to accompany.
The fast, intense sections are precise and dynamic.
The breakdowns are powerful and punchy.
The vocals of Ed Butcher are simply brutal. He has such a powerful voice.
Just when I think he growls the deepest pitched line ever heard. He takes it down another step the next line.
Ed’s lyrics are something he has passion for. It's obvious that he feels the ocean as his metaphore for most feelings expressed. Some people would see that as an 'over done' theme but think about the ocean and all it's power, beauty and mystery and you can understand his passion.
Ed Butcher is made for what he is doing. He is a talented vocalist and a talented writer.
Definitely read the lyrics of ‘Set Your Anchor’ on their myspace. He has even put what he is expressing through the song in a paragraph at the end.
I could go on all day but I better call it.
In closing, ‘Blessed Be This Nightmare’ is one of my favourite metalcore albums.
I love deathcore, ed, etc.. but this album is complete crap. It all sounded the same and what didn't sound the same sounded like a rip off of misery signals.
Ed Butcher is the king of vox.
I thought this album was about a 8/10. Sure it had some repetitive areas like most albums out there, but great album for its genre none the less...
We've detected that you are using Ad Blocking software.
If you hate ads, but love Ultimate Guitar, how about subscribing to Ultimate Guitar's Ad Free Service? If you subscribe to this service, you won't see annoying banner ads, pop-up ads, text-link ads or video ads and will be helping to support your favorite site at the same time.
As you know, we provide you with a lot of great, free content like news, reviews, interviews, tabs and chords, but you see, ads are the way we generate revenue to run UG and pay royalties to the songwriters and music publishers of the songs that are posted here.
Was this review helpful to you? 
And so's this album