Album of the Week: Echoes of Eternity - The Forgotten Goddess

I'll make a confession right now - I've usually shied away from female vocalists. It's not a sexist thing, but somehow, it just doesn't seem to work, juxtaposing the aggressive nature of metal with a sweet, soaring (however talented) woman singer. However, newcomers Echoes of Eternity are quickly changing my mind.

With their Nuclear Blast Records debut, The Forgotten Goddess, Echoes have set themselves up to join that illustrious girls' club that includes the legendary Nightwish and fellow newcomers Epica.

The record begins with a brooding, delicate acoustic riff, interrupted in true epic fashion with enough distortion to split your skull. By the time Francine Boucher, the band's incredibly versatile, overwhelmingly talented vocalist comes in, you're hooked. The Forgotten Goddess is ten tracks of technical, perfectly produced progressive metal, full of everything a boy (okay, or girl) can ask for in a perfect metal record: chugging riffage, songs about antiquated dieties, and, oh yeah, killer solos courtesy of Brandon Patton, who co-founded the band with powerhouse drummer Kirk Carrison.

The band shines most brightly on the record's title track, a multi-lingual, time-signature-bending song that is equally adept for head-banging and interpretive dance. The metal squeals are enough to make any metal kid shoot his proverbial load, but the crescendo leading up to the double-bass laden solo about two minutes in is almost too perfect for words.

And what epic metal record would be complete without an acoustic number, complete with a string quartet and layered vocals? Well, you get it for about a minute on The Kingdom Within before the band returns to black metal-inspired thrashery and some killer arpeggios. I'm not complaining.

Echoes even gets all Swedish on yo' ass with the technically-adept, pitch-perfect guitar work on Lost Beneath a Silent Sky, which would be perfectly at home on, for example, an In Flames record.

In all, The Forgotten Goddess has what you're looking for - whether that be just a great metal record, an exercise in feminism, or a crash-course in pagan religious history. For me, it was a lesson in expectations - never discount a band based on the gender of its members - because in the case of Echoes of Eternity, they kick the shit out of half of the all-male bands out there.

Check them out if you like: The Gathering, Nightwish, Dragonland