Eterna - Papyrus (2001)
This band from Brazil offers listeners some excellent power metal. The band is made up of Douglas Codonho (keyboards), Danilo Lopes (Drums and vocals), Paulo Frade (guitars) and Alexandre Emanuel Claudio
(bass and vocals). The band does an excellent job of combining very technical guitar playing with some excellent drumming and keyboard parts. Frade does a great job handling the guitars. He shreds on some parts and produces some
good leads and loads of hooks on other parts. Also included in the music is the crunch that good power metal has. Eterna manages to combine many different elements but still retain that power metal sound without sounding like a
copy band. The drums keep up with the guitars and add some needed structure to the music. Codonho adds some cool keyboard parts into the mix. He alternates between taking the lead and providing background sound on many of the
songs. The keyboards do not get in the way of the guitars so power metal fans who like the pure guitar power will not be disappointed. The vocals are shared by Lopes and Claudio. They have both higher-pitched and mid-range styles
incorporated into the music. The mid-range style is much more effective than the higher-pitched stuff as it compliments the music better. Songs on this include Working Man, Longevity, Mary's Son, Da Pacem Domine, The War Is Over!,
Euthanasia, Social Sacrifice, Corruption, Ressurrection, Papyrus (Pt. I - The Holy Fire / Pt. II - The Firstling) and Flight Recorder. The lyrics deal with a variety of topics ranging from being consumed by work and money, drug
abuse and how Christ can set the addict free, and looking back on things we have done. Eterna displays a great deal of talent on this release. Papyrus is a good cd and if you like power metal
that is interesting and
well-produced this cd will be a favorite. More consistent vocals would help the music immensely. -- Review by Alex Mull