ALBUM REVIEW: Eternal Steel – I Am
They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but it is hard not to expect something pretty sick from Texan death metallers I AM when presented with the artwork for their third full-length album Eternal Steel. It depicts some kind of scantily-clad badass holding a skull in one hand, and what appears to be a three-headed panther on a chain in the other, all in front of the kind of sweeping snow-capped mountains that could have Bear Grylls frothing at the mouth in no time. Of course, it would all be for nothing if the music contained within wasn’t up to scratch, which in this case, mostly, it is.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s safe to say that I AM haven’t given death metal a total overhaul here. Eternal Steel has plenty of antecedents that encompass everyone from SEPULTURA to SLOWBLEED, but, in borrowing liberally from the worlds of thrash, hardcore and groove metal, it still manages to feel compelling enough throughout. This is slab-like, sledgehammer heavy stuff; it’s been around a while for sure, but as long as bands like I AM keep doing it like this then it won’t be going anywhere anytime soon either.
Turning to the details, Eternal Steel comes in the form of 11 pretty uniformly sliced tracks that all sit in that sweet spot between the three to five-minute mark. No stupid interludes, no drawn out epics, just a collection of meaty metallic bangers that help build a singular imposing wall of riffs, barks and gargantuan grooves. It’s not entirely one-note either; there is at least some degree of variation here. Most of the tracks flit between two primary gears – full-throttle thrashing, and slower, more stink-faced riffs and breakdowns – but there’s also clearly been some thought given to the overall sequencing of the record, as evidenced by moments like that in which the closing heft of The Iron Gate receives an immediate kick up the backside from the breakneck opening to the title track which follows.
Generally though, it is hard to pick out individual highlights here. Eternal Steel is a concentrated and cohesive record, but as it goes on it does struggle to offer anything that stands any taller than anything else. To some degree, that’s a positive – clearly there is no weak link in the armour – but it does mean that it can start to pass its listeners by after a while. Beyond their two preferred modes of attack, the band do throw in a few moments of ominous quiet such as those which open The Iron Gate and Queen Incarnate, while eighth track Heaven On Earth definitely benefits from a more washy atmospheric feel, but ultimately one wonders if a little more along these lines could’ve lifted this album from ‘good’ to ‘great’ territory.
To be fair to I AM, at least they stick to their guns to the very end. In what can only be a good thing for a band like this, penultimate track Eye Candy offers shades of MALEVOLENCE in the form of some semi-melodic bellowed vocals, while Manic Cure‘s thunderous double kicks and filth-ridden breakdown are a lot better than the ponderous acoustic number or overdone ballad a lot of bands of this ilk might have chosen for a closer. It reveals a truth about I AM that is clear throughout this record – these guys may be quite single-minded in their pursuit of sonic destruction, but they are also pretty damn good at it. If the artwork draws you in, it’s the riffs, aggro and general force of the music that makes it worth sticking around for this enjoyable if not slightly forgettable 40-odd minutes.
Rating: 6/10
Eternal Steel is set for release on September 9th via MNRK Heavy.
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