Eternity’s End are a European based technical power metal band founded by Christian Muenzner in 2014 (ex-Necrophagist, Obscura, Paradox, Alkaloid), with Embers of War being their third full length in their short existence so far. Embers of War is lyrically inspired by science fiction and fantasy, with a full on embrace of over the top classic heavy metal. The album will be released on on November 26 via Prosthetic Records. Christian Muenzner who plays guitar and keyboard in the band talked to Echoes and Dust about 3 releases that have influenced Embers of War a lot.
Band photo credit: Justin Hombach
Judas Priest – Painkiller
I first discovered this album in my teenage years when I was around 14 or 15 years old. At that point I would have done anything to be in a band like that, and I knew that if the day came for me to start my own band that this album would be the ultimate blueprint for it. It has all the elements of metal that make this style so great – the soaring, epic, majestic, glorious vocals of the one and only Rob Halford, the virtuosic guitar solos and harmony leads of Tipton and Downing – who took their playing to new dimensions on this album, the powerful drumming of Scott Travis, the amazing riffs and melodies. On top of that it has a very testosterone filled energy that no other album I know of has, and it provides full on escapism into a fantasy world – a world of demons, metal monsters and steel warriors, epic battles, but also the street element of leather and spikes and Harleys. It’s just so over the top in every way, the musical equivalent of the most over the top action movie, and this approach is at the core of our sound, and it shows through more on each album that we do. Being melodic and virtuosic, but at the same time relentlessly fast, heavy and brutal enough to keep up with any death metal band. It is POWER metal in the purest sense, meaning that it is powerful and high energy from start to finish.
Iron Savior – Unification
European power metal is often considered to be too fluffy and flowery – not this album though. It takes that Painkiller energy and flair and adds those bigger choirs and catchy choruses that are oftentimes associated with the European sound. Many songs combine the high speed drumming and intense riffing of the Bay Area thrash scene with choirs reminiscent of the band Queen. We love those choirs so much that we simply hired Piet, Yenz and Jan to do the choirs for us on the Unyielding and Embers of War albums. There is an uplifting, heroic element to the songs without becoming too happy sounding and still maintaining the seriousness and metal spirit. Again lyrically this is pure escapism, telling a complete sci fi story over the duration of the album and listening to it instantly takes you into another world, like the greatest sci fi movie never made. Production wise this was also the pinnacle of that golden era of Euro power metal. The drum sound and beefy guitar tones are just perfect, and the production still uses enough reverb to have this escapist, fantasy type flair that you simply don’t get from today’s ultra dry productions and is a bit of a production blueprint for us.
Running Wild – Masquerade
RIFFS RIFFS RIFFS!!!! Running Wild were always masters of the riff, they have more killer riffs in one song than many other bands on entire albums. To me personally this album was the highlight of their career, even though I know that this is a controversial opinion and most people would favour their 80’s era. This album has my favorite production of the Running Wild discography and no weak or filler songs. There are countless killer riffs, and the influence of this album on us is undeniably present in many of our songs like ‘Hounds Of Tindalos’, ‘Dreadnought (The Voyage Of The Damned)’, ’Bane Of The Black Sword’ and ‘Beyond The Gates Of Salvation’.
