A Virgin And A Whore

This must be ETOS 4th release. I personally discovered the band with their previous record, which was a very nice surprise. Afterwards I've listen their second album (Vilda Mánnu) and find it was too aggressive and not enough melodic to my tastes. So this A Virgin And A Whore shows that the band is calming down, getting more melodic and atmospheric than in the past. And I won't complain cause the result is beautiful. ETOS music is more easily digested from first listens now and the accent has been put on melody, where keyboards and guitars plays the leading roles. The guitars are like always very present. The vocals are a bit less aggressive than before (with apparition of clear vocals), but not that much (still a few growls then and there). The song writing is very mature, and the the balance between aggression and melody is much better to my tastes. The piano still has an important place in the sound as well, and it's being use very smartly over the songs (probably responsible for the overall sound getting more melodic). I'd say that ETOS is slowly but surely calming down. Songs like Fall Of Men will stay in your mind forever, especially the fantastic guitar parts of this song, highly melodic solos, the overall being magnificently orchestrated. My favorite on this record without any doubts. I'd add that the album if more sorrowful, more sad than the previous opus (Chaotic Beauty) which contained a lot of hate and rageous emotions. But here I can almost not feel any hate except maybe on some vocals and on Sick,Dirty & Mean & Blood Of Hatred. So beside these 2 songs, it's like the album releases sadness in the air (even during fast moments), between keyboard orchestrations and crying guitars (with some perfect acoustic moments) in order to deliver a real festival of emotions. A song perfectly demonstrating this is The River Flows Frozen (what a song my friends !). If you like ETOS last work then you can buy this one without any doubts. But fans of very aggressive music may find this release a bit soft compared to the band's precedent work. For myself I believe that ETOS is making the right choice, melody over aggression, within acceptable limits. A festival of melodies and emotion with dark vocals to haunt your dreams ! Even though I haven't listen to their first album, I believe that ETOS have finally found their true sound and deliver here their best work up to date. A dark & melodic masterpiece !