Artist: Reign Eternal
Single: Pathways
Release Date: 3rd October 2016

Reign Eternal are a 5 piece young metalcore outfit based in Exeter, Devon in England. They formed as a band about two years ago.

In June 2015, I was given the opportunity to review their debut single “Bloodwater”, and now I feel I’m extremely fortunate to be able to review the new single “Pathways” which is going to be released on 3rd October.  Just over five months since the release of their debut single in 2015, Reign Eternal released their debut EP “Premonitions”, which gave the band a chance to establish themselves as one of the most promising young metal bands in the south of the UK. The EP was supported by two music videos as well as being on their first ever tour all around England.

“Pathways” begins with a cymbal giving a call to the guitars which start a fast and short intro. This is joined by the drums and the bass soon after, and then followed by unclean vocals. The lead vocalist Ell Jones’ distinctive voice really shows emotional pain.  The clean vocals on the other hand are mostly harmonized, which very rich and pleasurable. “Pathways” is a slightly more straightforward metalcore song and has less melodic guitar lines than their previous tracks.  The rhythm section is well exposed through the track, and it seems that heavier rhythm section succeeds in carrying the song’s message forward steadily. Reign Eternal have taken quite a few steps forward from their previous work with this gorgeous piece. It really makes you look forward to hearing what they will bring with more new music.

Hope you check out the interview below as well as the teaser for “Pathways”.

Here is an insight from the vocalist Ell, into what inspired Reign Eternal to write “Pathways”
– Pathways is a representation of the daily struggles with we as the band and many guys out there have faced and overcome by taking certain paths in life. Whether that’s leaving an abusive relationship, financial issues, drug and alcohol addiction, or even prevailing against bullies. We want to get the message out there that regardless of the pressures people may be under or the battles they may be fighting. There are always options and choices out there however difficult they maybe to find. Just remember, all roads lead to here.

With our very short notice, Ryan, the guitarist of Reign Eternal kindly spent some time of his busy schedule to be interviewed by me. Here it is;

Hi, Ryan. Thank you for accepting our interview with a short notice. How are you?

Hey Teri!
That’s okay! I’m great thank you, excited to finally have some new music for our fans.

Thanks for letting me review your new track! First of all, could you tell us how you all met up and became a band?

Reign Eternal started with our vocalist Ell and our drummer Jobe meeting up at college and sharing music. After being inspired by bands like Architects, Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive and Bullet for My Valentine they decided that they wanted to start a band. Ell was always a strong singer and Jobe had just started learning to play drums, at which point they needed a guitarist. I used to upload videos to Facebook of me playing solos and covering songs by bands like Lamb Of God and August Burns Red, thankfully Jobe and Ell noticed this and sent me an invitation out of the blue to come and practice with them.

Jobe’s cousin Sam was also a guitarist and Jobe had also invited him to come and practice with us, funnily enough he used to upload clips of guitar also! Callum, our bassist at the time, was also invited by Jobe to come and practice.

We all got together at Jobe’s house, half of us didn’t know each other. But it wasn’t strange, it felt amazing to know that everyone was together just because of our love for Metal and playing Music. We played through a few covers originally. Songs like My Last Serenade and early Avenged Sevenfold songs from Waking the Fallen were our favourites. After a while we just naturally started writing out of nowhere and within two weeks we had an EP!

We just did it for fun and we just loved hanging out in the evenings listening to our favourite bands, watching live videos of them and just being inspired you know? That’s when we started to realise what our goal would be for the band and that we wanted to put everything we had into doing what we love.

I had no idea this band was ever going to be where it is today.

Thanks Ryan. Well, how did you decide on Reign Eternal as your band name? Such a gracious name!

Haha thanks! I’m glad you said that actually, rarely do we ever get this question in an interview.

I’m very curious!

Sam, our guitarist is an amazing artist. Some of our EP art, tees and logos are designed by him in his spare time.

Yes, I have seen some of his drawings. Sam is fantastic!

Yeah. When we posed the question ‘What shall we call the band?’ Sam immediately started drawing. The first thing he drew was a sketch of a King as a ghost looking over his kingdom. Jobe and Sam were immediately trying to get a name from the picture until Sam said ‘Reign… Reign Eternal’.
We all loved how powerful it sounded, it stuck straight away and we still love it until this day!

Truly a great name!
Who are your influences? Does everyone listen to similar music and bands? 

Most of us do. I’m very influenced by early 2000’s Metalcore, bands like As I Lay Dying and Killswitch Engage are definitely my biggest influences in my writing.

Sam however came from a more 80’s/90’s Metal era and is very influenced by bands like Pantera and also Blues bands. Since being in the band me and Sam have shared so much music. I’ve always had a huge love for thrash Metal and classic bands like Metallica, Pantera, Slayer etc. but I have definitely found so many old tracks from bands that I’ve never heard thanks to Sam, likewise Sam is now a huge fan of As I Lay Dying and Parkway Drive haha!

Ell is far more influenced by more modern styles, the likes of Architects (Sam Carter) and the original sound of Charlie in Fightstar are what he takes a lot of inspiration from when singing and writing music.

Jobe is very unique and listens to all sorts of bands, but his main influence is from technical bands like Northlane and August Burns Red. They inspire him a lot when writing drums.

How do you go about writing your songs? 

It normally starts with riff by myself or Sam when we are at practice. Jobe will start improvising and we see where it takes us.
We normally just have a rough version finished so that Ell can practice vocals and write a melody. Then we take it to the studio and write the more complex sections and the leads.
Ell has so many lyrics for thousands of songs, he normally picks what he thinks fits best then changes it to fit the style and structure of the song.
This is how most of the EP was written, so many hours were spent trying to come up with riffs and melodies!
‘Pathways’ was a lot easier to write, we knew we wanted to step up from the EP and pushed to develop our sound.

So you are just about to release the single “Pathways”. I’m so excited about this. You must be excited too! 

I’m extremely excited about this! Very nervous to hear the feedback, as all musicians are when releasing new music which they put their blood sweat and tears into.

I think that you are nervous is perfectly normal.

I feel like ‘Pathways’ is a huge step up for Reign Eternal and I just hope our fans agree with us in saying that it’s also a step in the right direction.

I think I agree with you!
How would you describe this track?

I would describe ‘Pathways’ as being powerful and fast paced, with huge riffs, motivational lyrics, raw heaviness and big melodic choruses.
Definitely for fans of Metal across the board.

I believe the music video is coming with its release. Am I right?

Absolutely!
Our new Music Video along with our new single ‘Pathways’ will be released on October 3rd 2016. The video was shot and directed by our extremely talented and close friend Robert Doran.
We couldn’t be more happy with the way this video turned out after all the preparation that went into it.

I really can’t wait to see the video! The location looks fantastic! Is your second EP or an album expected to follow sometime soon?

We have no confirmed date as of yet, but we are currently finishing off writing what looks to be a second EP to follow ‘Premonitions’ due in 2017.

Awesome, I’m so thrilled!
You went off to Reign Eternal’s first ever tour in July. Can you tell us about it?

Our UK tour with our Swedish Metalcore brothers ‘Bury The Evidence’ was absolutely amazing. We couldn’t have been more blessed to have shared a memory like that with such a talented and lovely bunch of guys. Overall it was one of the best experiences of my life and I would give anything to re-live it again.

We travelled across the UK and played 5 dates in Norwich, Birmingham, Leamington, Northampton and London. I personally enjoyed every single show as much as the other, but if I had to pick a favourite it would definitely be London. The energy was just huge!

Brilliant! You know, I was in abroad when you were touring. I was really bummed. Any shows coming up soon?

We will be announcing a few shows in the South West of the UK very soon, we are also planning a short tour over winter. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

However most of our time is currently focused on writing for the new release in 2017.

Is there anything you would like to say?

Thanks to everyone who has supported us in our journey so far, it means the world to all of us.

Remember to check out ‘Pathways’ on October 3rd!

#Eternallove

Thank you for your time, Ryan, and good luck!

Thanks again Teri!

Teri Morris

Pathways – written by Reign Eternal, produced by Ash Scott
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/pathways-single/id1160795068

To find out more about Reign Eternal, visit their sites using the links below;
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialReignEternal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reigneternalofficial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Reign_Eternal @Reign_Eternal
Bigcartel(Merch): http://reigneternal.bigcartel.com/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/reign-eternal/bloodwater
BandCamp: https://reigneternal.bandcamp.com/track/bloodwater
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3xMk3dMqQ9LBmVlo9Qt-WA/videos
ReverbNation: https://www.reverbnation.com/reigneternalofficial

*Featured photo by Reflexeye Photography & Film