I’ve been slinging positive words about the relatively unknown Aussie Goth-doom crew The Eternal since 2018, when I was first captivated by their Waiting for the Eternal Dawn opus. It was like a variation on classic Peaceville doom mixed with acts like To Die For and H.I.M., and it worked despite the mammoth and unreasonable song runtimes. 2024s Skinwalker kept the winning formula while dialing back the song lengths a bit, and it was another win because the band have such a sharp handle on their chosen genre and style. Their early 2026 EP showed their mastery firmly in place, and now we get their 8th full-length, Obscured Horizons. The core sound remains somewhat intact, but this time they’ve moved further away from the 10-minute song lengths and smoothed out their presentation to make it significantly less heavy than before. It feels like a lite version of their Goth-doom style with a greater emphasis on melody and hooks. Their charm and songwriting guile are still present, so the new approach works more often than not, but have they lost essential depth and boldness in their special sadboi broth?
The album kicks off well with a typically downcast but gripping number, “Lament for the Hollow,” that showcases the moody, melancholic style The Eternal do so well. It’s hypnotic, easily digestible, and glum as fook, and that’s why you come to this particular show. It has shades of Paradise Lost and Dawn of Solace, but it’s uniquely them, and it kicks mopey ass. “Existing to Expire” sounds like a marriage between Paradise Lost’s One Second era and Lacrimas Profundere, and that’s a nice neighborhood to stop and have a good cry. Did I mention it’s sticky as hell too? It is. From here, Obscured Horizons settles into a very grey comfort zone of forlorn balladry and not-quite-metal Gothic exposition. Tracks like the engaging “Colours Fade” offer all the despair and negative feelings you want, but in a very light, melodic way with subtle touches of Voyager. This particular vibe carries throughout most of the album.
This is an easy-listening, drift-away kind of platter, with each song offering another bleak little cloud to float on as you come to grips with your inner pain. “I’ve Seen the Dream” feels especially weepy, with lyrics that speak clearly of loss and coping with the aftermath. It actually stings a bit if you really focus on what is being sung. By the time the 7-plus minutes of “Liminality” arrives, you may begin to sense that the album is rather one-note, with no real peaks and valleys in heaviness or pacing. The Eternal was never a crushingly heavy band, but they explored the heavier elements of doom, doom-death, and melodoom much more than they’re doing here. While no song is weak or unnecessary, taken together, they all start to blur into a graveyard grey mush by the 3/4 mark with so little deviation in approach. The only time a death roar appears is in the opening moments of “Liminality,” and it makes you long for more harsh elements to punctuate the slick, smooth Goth rocking. Whether it’s a booming death bellow, hostile riff, or dissonant squeal, the material screams for something, anything heavy as it floats from one ethereal vista to the next. That said, the title track is super hooky with just the right amount of pathos, and closer “Awaken” feels grandiose and sweeping, dragging in alt-rock elements without destabilizing the essential Gothery. At 51 minutes, this is a short album for The Eternal, and maybe it was wise to curtail the length given the monotone soundscape.
As always, Mark Kelson’s Gothic crooning is the main attraction here. He was born to sing gloomy tales of misadventure and heartbreak, and he does so with a smooth, unforced grace. I’ve become a big fan of his work over the years; I just wish his vocals weren’t so restrained and “safe” here. I miss the forays into Peaceville doom-death groaning and grunting because they set off the cleans so well and made them feel all the more poignant. Kelson and Richie Poate layer soft, nonthreatening Goth riffs and dreamy noodling everywhere, only occasionally offering something a bit harder or meaner (basically the first minute-and-change of “Liminality”). Though the music they craft is pretty and moody, it can end up pretty sleepy at times. I miss the swings from heavy to soft riffage that made Waiting for the Endless Dawn feel so dynamic. The songwriting itself is solid as always; it’s just that the album is too held back and constrained to rise to the same level as their prior releases.
I always assumed that if The Eternal ever tightened their songs into the 4-6 minute range, they could drop a truly mammoth sadboi platter on us. They did their part to tighten, but in the process they leeched nearly all the metal out of the end product. Obscured Horizons offers good to very good gloom rock by a band skilled enough to pull it off, but it’s not as captivating as their prior platters. Good stuff, but I want MOAR. I guess I’m never satisfied.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Reigning Phoenix
Websites: the-eternal.com | facebook.com/theeternal | instagram.com/theeternalofficial
Releases Worldwide: September 18th, 2026
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