ETERNAL EVIL hailing from Stockholm, Sweden were formed in 2019. The Thrash Metal outfit release their second full-length album. “The Gates Beyond Mortality” was produced, mixed, and mastered by Robert Pehrsson (DEATH BREATH; TRIBULATION) at Studio Humbucker. It has a length of about 41 minutes. The album was released via French Death, Black, and Thrash Metal specialists Listenable Records.

The album starts with the spine-chilling and tension-building two-minute intro “Depths Of A New Eternity”, transitioning into “Guerilla Warfare” which has a frantic start. It is a Thrash Metal attack at blistering pace, sharp riffing, and crunching basslines. The vocals are harsh and vary between the medium to higher end of the vocal range with occasional screams. While the verse parts are direct and aggressive, the chorus parts and the extended lead guitar solo carry the main melodies. “Guerilla Warfare” is a cool opener which makes appetite for more. The title song has a short instrumental introduction at a measured tempo, transitioning into the verse part at mid-tempo. The riffing provides a grim melodic framework. The bridge to the chorus part is very abrupt, but it maintains the pace of the verse part. The break leads to a shift towards a measured tempo with a more epic sound and melancholic melodies. “The Gates Beyond Mortality” has been released as video and the YouTube link is provided below.

“Funeral Prayers” starts once again with a short instrumental pre-lude, transitioning into a track played at crazy speed. The riffing is more technical compared to the many album tracks. In terms of tempo, there is no difference between verse and chorus parts, it is a hammering throughout, and highlight is the extended lead guitar solo. “Funeral Prayers” is one of the fastest album tracks and one of the album highlights. “Signs Of An Ancient Sin” offers a change towards a measured tempo with a head-banging rhythm. The atmosphere of the track is dark, and the melodies are spine-chilling, but the vocals remain to be aggressive, which gives the track an extra dimension. A feature of the album sound is that there are little twists in tempo during the tracks. While this is true for the verse and chorus parts of “Signs Of An Ancient Sin”, there is a tempo shift for the lead guitar solo near the end of the track, which is played at a fast pace. “Desecration Of Light” is another fast song after a 40 second run-in at mid-tempo. The verse parts are frantic with riffing, the drumming, and the vocals, while the chorus parts are more melodic. After all, “Desecration Of Light” is driven by grim melodies.

“The Astral Below” starts with another tension-building guitar driven intro and it takes quite a while before the track comes into life with strong basslines and tight riffing. The track is not overly fast, but still faster than mid-tempo and it is one of the few tracks with some subtle changes in rhythm. Highlights are clearly both lead guitar solos, which excellently contribute to the track. “The Astral Below” is with almost six minutes playing time one of the longest album tracks, but the fading out at the end sounds a bit unfinished. “Immolation” is another fast Thrash Metal assault. The track has all the ingredients of a great Thrash Metal song: aggression, crazy pace, fast and tight riffing, cool lead guitars, and direct and simple chorus parts. It is my favorite album track. The album finishes with “The Cursed Trilogy”. It is another fast song, but slightly slower than the preceding track “Immolation”. After the first three minutes of verse and chorus parts at the same speed with simple and direct riffing, the break comes with a twist towards measured tempo. The break is introduced by blood-freezing guitar melodies, transitioning into a part driven by the vocals and melodic riffing introducing the extended lead guitar solo accompanied by crushing basslines. The whole melodic framework of the break is epic. Eventually, the song returns to the initial pace, riffs, and melodies. “The Cursed Trilogy” is with about seven minutes the longest album track.

ETERNAL EVIL deliver a good Thrash Metal album. “The Gates Beyond Mortality” is an improvement compared to their debut album, but it leaves still some further room for enhancements. The album sound is often mixed up between the tracks in terms of tempo, which maintains the album fresh. Within the songs, however, there are often no or only little twists and turns, which is at times unfortunate. Highlights are typically the lead guitars. Although the songwriting has more maturity than for the debut album, further improvement is needed. The album production is okay, but some enhancements would be beneficial for the album sound. “The Gates Beyond Mortality” has its moments and Thrash Metal fans will like what they hear from ETERNAL EVIL.