Eternal Ryte

Item: World Requiem
Author: Daniel Baillod

World Requiem

(1990)

Reviewed by Daniel Baillod

Discogs YouTube

Label Pure Metal RecordsAdonai Metal Rock #4May 1991

glam metal heavy metal melodic metal

Translated from the original French

The glammers of Los Angeles arrive at the front of the stage, with their first opus: "World Requiem". As the title indicates, ETERNAL RYTE offers us a Requiem, that is to say a prayer for this dying world (or already dead?).

With this first album, one recognises the ETERNAL RYTE sound that appeared on their demo "Anthem" (ranked 3rd best demo in AMR no. 3). Despite the change of drummer and of bassist, ETERNAL RYTE has kept the same direction. It must be said that Phil St VINCENT (the singer) and Bobby SMITH (the guitarist) are the band's two founding members. And they are the ones who wrote every one of the tracks on "World Requiem". So ETERNAL RYTE here resembles ETERNAL RYTE. And that is perhaps one of the criticisms one could make of this first album. There is no surprise on "World Requiem". You expect a properly heavy album, on the whole a real smash ("Requiem", "The Killer", "No More Lies"), with muscular vocals but limited in range, and a phenomenal guitarist... Indeed Bobby SMITH is henceforth one of the six-stringers of the class of Tony PALACIOS (GUARDIAN) and Dennis CAMERON (ANGELICA). Bobby shows us what he can do, and he feels at ease as much in the "cool" and melodic passages ("Surrender") as in the hyper flashy ones (the "I'm sending you 777 notes a second" style... "The Killer").

Three tracks on the album already appeared on the demo ("The Killer", "The King" and "No More Lies").

In the band's compositions, the influence of the stage is obvious: ETERNAL RYTE has played a great deal in the Californian clubs, and the choruses are designed to be taken up on stage ("On The Line", "The King",...) by the audience. The drummer and the bassist, without being out-and-out top-flight players, offer us a very good rhythm section ("Requiem", "You And Me",...), nicely four-square. Scott ERNEST, nicknamed "Smash", had made his first appearance on ANGELICA's first album.

On the lyrics side, ETERNAL RYTE is to be classed among the best of the genre: from the furious "No More Lies" (which rises up against religious hypocrites, politicians and leaders of every stripe) to the very friendly "Someone To Love", by way of the invitation to worship God, in "The King" ("He is the King of kings tonight: so worship His Majesty...") and the speedy "Requiem", ETERNAL RYTE's first album is a very successful Requiem, even if one expected more from a band of glammers so talented... The production could have been better (Ah, the dollars...!!!) despite the work of Caesar KALINOWSKI (who, let us recall, unearthed WHITECROSS for us). But all in all, "World Requiem" can only turn on the lovers of properly made heavy, and of big manes!!! (Remember that ETERNAL RYTE is... heavy and enormous manes...!!! And above all the heart in the service of the King).