ALBUM REVIEW: Xeneris – Eternal Rising

Formed from the disbandment of Kalidia, Italy's Xeneris offer up their debut album Eternal Rising, the brainchild of Frederico Paolini (Composer and Guitars) and Roberto Donati (Bass) who give you symphonic metal, with the help of Maryan (Vocals) and Stefano Livieri (Drums). Over the 11 songs on offer we get some interesting music, although with a running time of just under 48 minutes, does seem to drag just a bit. 

The album starts with Barbossa, with an opening burst that reminded me of an orchestral My Dying Bride. Strong vocals and pounding drums are noted early, but the guitars and bass are unfortunately somewhat buried under the synths. When the lead breaks through, the solo is exquisite. Next, we get Before the River of Fire, and the drums are initially more aggressive, the vocals heavy without the operatic histrionics I associate with this style of music, but again the over prominent synths tend to drown out the guitars, which is a shame. Following this is lead single Eternal Rising, and it’s more of the same, although a spoken word section in the middle, delivered almost in a newsreaders style,  before the Maidenesque solo rips in, and yes, it’s truly beautiful. Pandora's Box comes next, and it’s becoming a bit of a Groundhog Day, with the synths once again higher in the mix to the detriment of the other music for a large part. When the guitars do break through, we get another great solo. 

The Warlock sounding A New Beginning follows and it’s the sort of metal that would likely go down well at Eurovision. The Endless Sea continues in the same vein but has a very strange jazzy section two thirds of the way through jars uncomfortably with the rest of the song. There is a break in the form of Shahrazad (a girl’s name meaning City Born in Urdu apparently), which starts with a nice acoustic Eastern motif, repeated, and expanded on throughout the song, and this was a standout track for me. More overreliance on synths in the mix for Scilla and Candida, which is a Greek myth about choosing between two evils. There was a welcome bit of ‘Chug’ which forms part of the start on Burning Within, but the layered vocals aren’t to my tastes, and I struggled with them. The Glorious Fight had what I felt was a lightweight Amon Amarth vibe, containing some interesting Eastern flourishes, but also some odd tempo changes to try to keep it engaging. And finally, to Equinox, a very Warlock like ballad, with dual vocals, that are heavily layered. Symphonic metal isn’t my go to genre, so it wasn’t an album that I would rush to play again, but if you are a fan of this style, I’d think it would probably be right up your street.

Eternal Rising is released on 14th June on Frontiers Music 

Review by Andrew Matthews