Eldritch - adult contemporary melodic metal from Italy

Eldritch

Innervoid

Scarlet Records

17 November 2023

The long-running band (1988-1991[as Zeus], 1991-present) returned in 2023 with a new singer, Alex Jarusso (2023-present), replacing the longtime singer Terence Holler [Mario Tarantola] (1991-2022) whose voice was synonymous with Eldritch, given that he sang on every single album before this new one Innervoid, their 13th. The name of the band goes hand in hand with quality, mature heavy metal music for grown-ups: personal or introspective lyrics, skilled musicianship, good singing, and good, melodic, prog songwriting. The album (eight songs in 49 minutes) keeps all the songs between 5:00 and 5:30, and with most of them closer to the five-minute mark, except for one song that lasts 6:48, and a short intro of 1:15. The reasonable song durations match the balanced approach between melody and prog, keeping the songs as the main focus. The Italian band should be of interest to fans of heavy and power metal, of classic prog metal, and of memorable songwriting and singing. While sometimes the band shows that they like headbanging metal, including some smooth thrash riffing in a few spots, they do not really attempt to do much in the way of extreme sounds, like growling, which they avoid. Lyrically, the songs are introspective, existential, personal or make general observations about life, relations and people, and avoid posturing, immature potty-mouth jackassery. It is adult contemporary melodic metal, if you will. Therefore, if you enjoy melodic metal, based on traditional genres, from classic to power prog, then it is very likely that this album is more than worth your time. One last thing: I did, in fact, have a bit of a difficult time accepting the new singer because I had never imagined the band with a different voice, especially since I, like other fans of the band, enjoy the personal, particular singing voice and stylings of Terence Holler. However, setting aside the possible reasons (I do not know) for the departure of Mr. Holler, the new voice of Mr. Jarusso (Shining Fury 2010-2014; Silver Pugnale 2017-present) is really competent, melodic and professional and fits the album very well and smoothly. I have enjoyed the album a lot.

Innervoid by Eldritch

https://www.facebook.com/Eldritchband/