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Echoes of Eternity

The Forgotten Goddess

(Nuclear Blast; US: 20 Feb 2007; UK: 19 Feb 2007)

Francine Boucher is going to be regarded as a metal goddess before long, which is no surprise, considering how the French Canadian-born singer happens to be very easy on the eyes, not to mention possessing a voice perfectly suited for melodic metal. Inclusion in Revolver magazine’s next trite “Hottest Women in Metal” feature is all but a lock, and you know Boucher’s band, Los Angeles-based Echoes of Eternity, is going to ride the lady’s coattails to fame. The only problem is her bandmates fail to hold up their end of the bargain. While Boucher croons in her sumptuous, tender voice (bearing an uncanny resemblance to Liv Kristine of Leaves’ Eyes), the other three members can do no better than a clunky backdrop that awkwardly sits midway between metalcore and nu metal, lazily relying on crunching riffs and lifeless arrangements. Aside from the mildly pleasing “Voices in a Dream” and “The Forgotten Goddess”, guitarist Brandon S. Patton is incapable of matching his singer’s grace, creating no cohesion between them. If anything, Echoes of Eternity’s reliance on the Mighty Riff sounds too American, devoid of the kind of dignified goth style Europeans like Lacuna Coil, Moonspell, and Theatre of Tragedy exude so well. Francine Boucher’s potential is boundless, but like the saying goes, it’s mighty hard to soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by turkeys.

Rating:

Adrien Begrand has been writing for PopMatters since 2002, and has been writing his monthly metal column Blood & Thunder since 2005. His writing has also appeared in Metal Edge, Sick Sounds, Metallian, graphic novelist Joel Orff's Strum and Drang: Great Moments in Rock 'n' Roll, Knoxville Voice, The Kerouac Quarterly, JackMagazine.com, StylusMagazine.com, and StaticMultimedia.com. A contributing writer for Decibel, Terrorizer, and Dominion magazines and senior writer for Hellbound, he resides, blogs, and does the Twitter thing in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.


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