Apart from the fact that they come from the Netherlands and have atrocious taste when it comes to clothing (bermuda shorts & Pearl Jam t-shirts!), I know absolutely nothing about Etherial Winds, and judging by the quality of this release, I'm not exactly going to be breaking down doors to find out more about them anytime soon. What we've got here is a fairly innocuous blend of old school death metal with melodic doom metal overtones...now, that in and of itself wouldn't be such a bad thing, except for the fact that the band manages to completely bugger things up with the use of god-awful synth patches (something I've expressed my great hatred for in other reviews). The first track off this ("Into The Serene") is actually a fairly decent song (the best of the lot if you ask me) - the main riff plods along nicely, and reminds me somewhat of Hellhammer (as do quite a few of the other riffs presented here), but the synth totally ruins the atmosphere with it's presence...something that become all too common as the CD progresses. Everything about this release screams "RUN OF THE MILL!", from the tempo (almost always mid-paced, although there are a few quicker passages here and there), to the song writing (you can usually guess what's coming around the corner), to the actual playing ability of the band...the production is bog standard as well, so there isn't much to be said of that area. However, even with all these faults, I haven't totally given up hope on this band - mainly because the riffs (although generic) are pretty cool, and if they ever did sack the synth player, they might be able to pull themselves out of mediocrity. If you're a big fan of this type of thing, and don't mind a slightly under-developed attempt at it, Etherial Winds might be worth grabbing, but I think the rest of us would be better off spending our money elsewhere...

caveat emptor: I'm somewhat suspicious of this bands alignment...with a title like "Saved" and the artwork on the CD cover, I have a nagging feeling they may be untermensch christian scum...also, their second CD (the title of which escapes me at the moment) has equally suspect cover art. Buyer beware...

© 1999 chorazaim