Album Review: "Blackenday" by Italian Heavy Metal Band Eldritch

Italian heavy metal band Eldritch has been a favorite of mine since the late 1990’s. Their 2007 studio album called Blackenday continues the tradition of solid albums that have well, every good musical thing that a fan could ask for. From the beginning, you will see that this one starts in the same good fashion that their previous work Neighbourhell starts as well.

Silent Flame starts with some beautiful acoustic melody part and this is one of the things that this band has always excelled at. The song lyrically is about being trapped in a house of pain and sometimes we become trapped in our bad ways of thinking and we believe that things cannot get any worse. Is there such a thing as a silent flame? We do know about things such as that thing that are considered silent killers but that’s a different topic for a different day. However, this first song is just the way that Eldritch can start off an album that sets the tone for another solid work!

“The Deep Sleep” is a very good, fast progressive tune that has the message of not crying and saving whatever tears we have for the next day. “The Blackened Day” musically starts out with the same kind of guitar tone that we heard in the first song and lyrically it is similar as well. Why? That is the 4^th song on this album and it is interesting that the band created a title for a song based on a question. Sometimes we wonder why we are still alive when things do not seem to be working out for us. “Black Rain” may be the best song on this album not only because of the riffing but also because of the solid vocals of Terence Holler as the song’s message is that there is a pouring rain that is really coming. This rain has the potential to really drain our good mood and put us in that bad mood.

The song Rumors starts off with this kind of Lacuna Coil influenced guitar work in the start before the heavy riffing kicks in. There is a mix of soft and heavy in this song. “Broken Road” has an interesting dual guitar feel as the song builds on the story of a man that got his life back together following the advice of his father but he did not realize that life could be so cruel. Is life really full of envy and hate? Life is actually what we decide to shape and mold it according to our deepest desires. Be grateful for the power of music and the deepness of the lyrics of this band that causes us to really think about where our lives are going. Overall, Blackenday has a strong first half of the album with the second half being a little weaker but overall this is still a good work from one of Italy’s finest metal bands of all time.