Power metal is not necessarily the most frequently represented sub-genre when talking about metal in France. However, some French bands have been involved in this music for a long time, as shown by the band Eternal Flight who just blew their twentieth birthday!
To celebrate this, nothing like the release of a new album, in this case, "SurVive" and its nine tracks. In terms of style, we are somewhere between the worlds of Symphony X, Fates Warning, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. You will have understood, the retro influences of Eternal Flight are legion and are even the major characteristic of their sound.
The pleasure of playing is audible throughout the record, with a remarkable energy from the opening track, 'Will We Rise Again', carried by a very melodic power, even flirting with speed metal. Some heavier riffs are put here and there ('Is This The End'), while the technique and the fast guitar phrasing are frequent ('Mysterious Kings'), in an almost 90's progressive power vein.
Very 90's and therefore very vintage, to say the least. Eternal Flight offers many reminiscences of a style that is less fashionable today than in the past. This can be found in the production choices, in the chord progressions, in the innumerable gimmicks proper to the genre, even in the voice of the singer Gérard Fois, which although objectively impressive, will tend to tire the uninformed listener with its very high notes and a very theatrical side inherent to the style.
"SurVive" is therefore not an album that will revolutionize the current power metal. On the other hand, it pays a nice tribute to the bands that opened the way to the style three decades ago. With an obvious freshness and pleasure to play, the combo enjoys themselves after all this time to meet, to compose, and to create. Isn't that the main thing?