All Eternity

All Eternity is the gothic metal debut, combining heavy guitar, shadowed keyboards and low, emotive singing. Starting in 1993 in Kouvola in southeast Finland as the hard rock band Mary-Ann, they switched to gothic metal in 1999 and changed the name too. The EP Deeper Sin brought a deal with Spinefarm, and this album came out at home at the end of 1999; they then signed with Nuclear Blast for Europe and Pony Canyon for Japan. Sorrow-tinged melody sits at the songs' center, and the heavy playing serves to push that emotion wider. Though the worldview is dark, the songs are melodic and easy to remember. The opener “Farewell” got a video, and their cover of Sandra's “In the Heat of the Night” drew attention as the only single. Kimberly Goss and Marco Hietala guesting shouldn't be overlooked either. The following year they toured Europe with Dark Tranquillity, Sentenced and In Flames. A record that binds weight and romanticism naturally — the band's starting point.