Eternal Storm – A Giant Bound to Fall Review

Do I love long-form songs? Yes. Do I love Post-black melodies with minimal (but solid) clean singing and death metal growls? Obviously. That’s my bread and butter when it comes to music, and few are doing it at the same level as Eternal Storm.

I first discovered Eternal Storm back in 2019 with their stellar debut “Come the Tide”. While I felt that album was technically incredible, it didn’t click with me as much as other albums that year and it ended up somewhere near the bottom of my top 30 for the year. However, their sophomore album, “A Giant Bound to Fall”, has risen to the very top of my shortlist for 2024’s Album of the Year.

It’s a powerful album, filled to the brim with emotion, beautiful melodies, solid cleans, and incredible harsh vocals. The album ebbs and flows, like a storm over the ocean, giving the listener both savage thunderstorms with torrential rain, and then gorgeous moments of calm respite. It’s an album that has to be experienced, rather than simply listened to.

Very few artists are capable of eliciting this level of emotion out of their music, so I’m on a perpetual quest to find bands who can do so. It’s why I listen to thousands of new albums every year, and am constantly seeking that one “Special” album that makes me feel something on a deep level. It doesn’t happen often… sometimes it doesn’t even happen every year, but when it does, it’s the best feeling in the world. “A Giant Bound to Fall” gave me that feeling.

While the music is complex, technically perfect, and has top tier songwriting, there is just the smallest amount of bloat towards the middle of the album. For me, it doesn’t even matter. There’s so much I love about everything that’s going on, that I can appreciate the small amount of meandering that the album has. I’ve seen other reviewers citing this as their biggest complaint, so I thought I’d mention it, but honestly I think they’re being a bit nitpicky.

My favorite bands are all the ones who can communicate their feelings through the music, and I truly feel like Eternal Storm are masters at doing just that. “A Giant Bound to Fall” is damn near a masterpiece, and is currently my most-listened to album of 2024. I don’t expect I’ll stop listening to it anytime soon, and I can guarantee it will be VERY high on my album of the year rankings.

If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s an absolute must-listen.

4.8/5