ETERNAL Signs With BLKIIBLK, Prepares 2027 Album and European Tour

Phoenix death metal outfit ETERNAL has signed with BLKIIBLK, setting the stage for the band's second full-length album and its first release for the label in 2027.

Formed in 2021, ETERNAL has built its reputation around an old-school death metal foundation that pulls heavily from the early ’90s while incorporating the sharper attack of classic thrash. The band broke through more broadly with its 2024 debut album, Cryptic Lust, released through Carbonized Records.

Frontman and guitarist Emilio Ortega and drummer Xander Bridge have maintained a strongly independent approach to the band's development, with ETERNAL self-producing and mixing its releases. Before Cryptic Lust, the band issued the Forsaken Memories EP in 2022 and Faceless Evil EP in 2023.

“We looked beyond our direct influences, tracing things backwards to what inspired the bands that inspired us and finding ways to make those ideas our own,” Ortega said of the band's next phase. “We’re pushing ourselves further than we have before.”

BLKIIBLK and Frontiers Label Group Head of A&R Mike Gitter pointed to the songwriting beneath ETERNAL’s old-school aesthetic as a major reason for signing the band.

“They’re worshippers of the classic Morrisound sound that is part of the foundation of death metal itself, but that’s just the beginning,” Gitter said. “ETERNAL understand riffs; they understand songs.”

The signing follows a period of significant live development for the Arizona quartet. ETERNAL has toured the United States with GATECREEPER and shared stages with POSSESSED, VADER and NUNSLAUGHTER.

Now the band is heading overseas for the first time. ETERNAL will join SUFFOCATION, INGESTED and UNDEATH for a European run beginning Oct. 8 in Košice, Slovakia. The 20-date trek travels through Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland before wrapping Oct. 27 in Geneva.

Meanwhile, ETERNAL is putting the finishing touches on its sophomore album. The as-yet-untitled record will arrive through BLKIIBLK in 2027 and represents the band's first new full-length since Cryptic Lust.