You can't call them lazy, 5 albums in their six years of existence. There are bands that only make one album within such a period, but not Neaera. The previous album (reviewed by PoM, May 2009) 'Omnicide - Creation Unleashed' was already a nice one to listen to, and this new one will not disappoint the Neaera fans at all.
Musically it is a mixture between their 2007 album 'Armamentarium' and their last album 'Omnicide'. The death metal with melody and black-metal influences are still there, but they sound again more plump and heavy like on their 2007 album. You could also say that they hardly use metalcore influences anymore. The songs are all rather short and that sees to it that they stay interesting. On 'Omnicide' the songs needed more time to stick, on 'Forging the Eclipse' you get used to the songs much faster. Even though Neaera uses influences out of several genres, they have kind of created a style of their own, recognizable as Neaera. There is variety enough on this album, sometimes I hear Amon Amarth influences and in other faster tracks The Black Dahlia Murder isn't far away.
Fans can blindly buy this album and will not be disappointed at all; the average death metal fan certainly will appreciate this new record too. Neaera succeeded in recording their best record so far, and not many bands can say that with their 5th album.
