CLAYMOREAN are from Lazarevac, Belgrade, Serbia and have been making noises since 1994. The first nine years they called themselves CLAYMORE, until they disbanded in 2003. During that time, they released one album (“The First Dawn Of Sorrow” in 2003). They resurfaced in 2012 and released their second album “Lament Of Victory” in 2013. Not before long they decided that due to a slight variation in their musical direction the needed to change their name into CLAYMOREAN in 2014. Before that time, they were playing Power Metal, and since 2014 they are supposed to have been playing Heavy/Power/Doom Metal. At least, that is what it says on the Metal Archives site. And we tend to believe them, don’t we?

In just over 48 minutes you are treated to 48 minutes of CLAYMOREAN style Metal, and as far as I’m concerned, the main ingredient is still Power Metal, although it is larded with a lot of Heavy Metal parts and riffs. I really don’t feel the Doom Metal bits on “Eternal Curse”, but who know, they might have let them go through time. What I am missing in the description of their music is the Battle Metal, or if you wish True Metal. A lot of rhythms and riffs would fit a band like MANOWAR or SABATON. You can just imagine Dejana Betsa Garčević standing at the front with a sword held high. She would look as if she had descended straight from Valhalla. Unfortunately, her vocals don’t sound very feisty but rather girly, even when she tries to growl.

Not that her singing doesn’t fit the music of CLAYMOREAN. No, it does feel and sound just right and it is very complimentary of the music that is on “Eternal Curse”. And how much I like a good bit of Battle Metal, and it is quite obvious that the band have given it their all to come to the result that I am currently listening to. sorry, but I just can’t shake the feeling that CLAYMOREAN has reached the top of their game, and it is lacking in comparison with the batter albums of the bands I mentioned. I’m not saying that “Eternal Curse” isn’t a joy to listen to, as it really is, but it doesn’t have that little bit extra that will put me on the edge of my seat or make me want to discover their back catalogue. I’ll leave that for those who really dig this kind of Metal.