Artwork by: Mattias Norén

Style: Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Neoclassical Metal (Mixed Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Nevermore, Allegaeon, 3 Inches of Blood
Country: Canada
Release date: 10 February 2004

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My journey towards more extreme metal, and progressive metal as a result, started perhaps a tad differently than most. While friends of mine were discovering metal’s breadth and flexibility through bands like Opeth and Dream Theater, I had 3 Inches of Blood, Kalmah, and—as you may have guessed by the title of this review—Into Eternity to thank for bridging the gaps between my trad and power metal beginnings and all the extreme metal I would come to love after. Besides Swampsong (Kalmah), which fully kicked off my appreciation of death metal, there is no record more important to those formative years than Buried In Oblivion. On paper, I should have been repulsed (at the time) by the frenetic pacing and harsh vocals. Yet, one listen to the spiraling, harmonic interplay of the guitars on “Splintered Visions” and something in me shifted. Between the technical guitar work, melodicism, and soaring cleans, there existed enough leylines, however faint, to acts like Symphony X and HammerFall that the more “alien” elements (i.e., the technical, death-y metal) were able to make inroads into my listening psyche.

Into Eternity would go on to be one of my favorite bands for a long time. New album releases were eagerly anticipated, and I think barring Megadeth, I’ve seen them the most in concert.¹ And while The Scattering of Ashes (2006) tends to skew as my favorite Into Eternity record,² there is none in their discography more deserving of a Lost in Time than Buried In Oblivion. It is the alpha and the omega; the beginning of my enlightenment, the end of my ignorance. With twenty-two years since its release, and my own engagement with the band waning in the intervening gulf, the question begs asking: does Buried In Oblivion still hold the spark that opened my third ear back in 2004, or has time consigned it to its namesake?

A few notes into the dexterous rush that is “Splintered Visions”, and the answer takes shape with great expedience. The band comes out in force, wasting little time showcasing their blending of beautiful progressive fancy with ripping melodeath aggression. As Chris Krall sings “Medicate your mind…” in his crystalline range, I’m pulled back into the halcyon days of my metal initiation. More than nostalgia though, I’m reminded of just how awesome the instrumentation is on Buried In Oblivion. Tim Roth and Rob Doherty rip, tear, and soar across the record, shifting from grindy death riffs to hyper-clean soloing and power-prog technicality. Jim Austin’s drumwork creates not only a solid foundation on which they can operate, but also a dexterous and adaptable percussive base able to not only meet the needs of his cohorts, but take the lead, too (“Splintered Visions”, “3 Dimensional Aperture”, “Isolation”). He’s constantly finding little places to drop flourishes and pizzazz across the record. Austin’s work on Buried In Oblivion is largely responsible for my love of nimble and flavorful kitwork in heavier music.

Even the ballad-y title track holds strong against the ravaging winds of time. Krall’s voice sits isolated against gorgeous, heartfelt plucking as he spins a yarn of depression before diving headfirst into the roiling prog-death of “Black Sea of Agony”, which pulls motifs from “Buried in Oblivion” to create a beautiful fusion between the two songs that hits just as hard now as then. And while ending track “Morose Seclusion” lacks any direct connections to those preceding tracks, the elevated stringwork, acoustic centering, and Krall’s singular vocal performance go a long way towards making this feel like the end of a trilogy—a Depression Trilogy, if you will, that lends a dignity and grace to subject matter easily maligned in metal’s heavier, strong-above-all circles. “Morose Seclusion” is a surprisingly heartfelt and tender conclusion to an album that, thankfully, has lost none of its own heart.

I don’t think I can overstate just how excellent this album is. Every. Single. Song. Slaps. There isn’t a track on here whose chorus doesn’t get stuck in my head, nor instrumental flourish or melody that fails to lock down my ears. Even when the band repeats an element to the point of straining, like the arpeggiated run on “Point of Uncertainty”, Austin slides in to add the sort of flavorful panache needed to keep everything tasty. The stylistic transitions and virtuosity are whip-smart in their deployment, refusing to compromise a song’s substance for mere flash and flair, overall contributing to Buried In Oblivion’s superb sense of pace. Both progressive metal and death metal occasionally have a tendency to overstay their welcome and push the listener past the point of comfort, yet in fusing the two, Into Eternity honed excess into access. There are certain things I look back on and think “How did anyone ever think to make this? How fortunate to experience a world with this in it.” Buried In Oblivion sits high atop that list.

Imagine then my sadness to see the band sitting at approximately six-thousand listeners on Spotify. Of course, talent is no guarantee of success, especially in an industry as volatile and fickle as music. And Into Eternity haven’t been the most visible act throughout their history—nevermind performing in a niche subgenre—but they effectively disappeared for a decade between 2008’s The Incurable Tragedy and The Sirens (2018). That’s enough to condemn all but the biggest acts to the vaults of obscurity. With rumblings of a new album in the works, I’m holding out hope that maybe this will be the year Into Eternity comes back big. But even if nothing comes of it, or they fade away once more, there’ll always be the past for us to turn to. And if you’ve never heard them before, Buried In Oblivion remains a fantastic place to get acquainted.

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Recommended tracks: Splintered Visions, 3 Dimensional Aperture, Spiraling into Depression, Buried in Oblivion, Black Sea of Agony
You may also like: Mercenary, Arsis, Charred Walls of the Damned, Communic, Adagio

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Century Media

Into Eternity is:
– Chris Krall (vocals)
– Tim Roth (guitars, vocals)
– Rob Doherty (guitars, backing vocals)
– Scott Krall (bass, backing vocals)
– Jim Austin (drums)

1. Their absence at Gigantour 2006 was a blow. ↩︎
2. Stu Block’s arrival on lead vocals was a revelation for my young ears at the time. ↩︎