While this band is from Iceland, their style is more akin to acts such as Hope Drone or Paysage d’Hiver than any other black metal band from their native scene. I would lean further into the Paysage d’Hiver comparison given that Óreiða‘s five songs are meant to be a soundscape of one walking through a forest at night. That’s right, The Eternal has no vocals, just instrumentals. This is not a detriment, though, as unlike Daughters of Sophia, Óreiða manages to keep a sense of brevity with their largely similar-sounding music. Is this music particularly interesting? No, but more on that in a bit.
The Eternal is a much more digestible version of Im Wald. Both acts (Óreiða and Paysage d’Hiver) utilize warm synth with icy guitar to convey their experiences. The Eternal has more of a discernible route with its journey, exuding a clear beginning (“The Path”), a midpoint (“The Climb”), and a return home (“The Eternal”). That being said, the songs are very one-dimensional. It’s not hard to revisit this album, given that it’s a crisp 35 minutes, but it’s hard to find any real reason to come back to this unless you’re a big fan of instrumental atmospheric black metal. At the end of the day, I don’t mind this album, but it also doesn’t really have much going for it besides being a good soundtrack to a cozy fireside book reading or a walk in the woods. I doubt any but the most fervent Paysage d’Hiver fans would return to this album regularly.
