For all of the evident instrumental prowess displayed by its musicians, and the impressive vocal chops of singer Francine Boucher, Echoes of Eternity's 2007 debut, The Forgotten Goddess, fell resoundingly flat under the unwieldy girth of its overwrought compositions, and oftentimes unnatural, downright uncomfortable band interplay.

It almost seemed like the two parties were actually worlds apart, never mind in the same recording studio, performing the same songs.

Fortunately, most of that distance has been broached on the band's sophomore outing of two years later, As Shadows Burn, and the excessively intricate exercises that turned their first album from entertainment to a homework assignment replaced by a much more straightforward songwriting approach.

Problem is, this time Echoes of Eternity's biggest issue is tempo, as new songs tend to either wallow in a listless slog ("A Veiled Horizon," "Descent of a Black Soul," "The Scarlet Embrace"), or else burst into somewhat forced black metal blastbeats ("Twilight Fires," "Buried Beneath a Thousand Dreams"), or, well, both ("Funeral in the Sky").

Rare are the truly compelling moments here, like the majestic intro to "Ten of Swords," the tasty guitar solo in "Memories of Blood and Gold," or the blood-boiling staccato riffs lifting parts of "Letalis Deus" and the aforementioned "Buried Beneath a Thousand Dreams" above their forgettable surroundings.

And when all is said and done, the lingering impression left by As Shadows Burn is of a halfhearted attempt at replicating such female-fronted, European goth-symphonic-metal bands as After Forever or Within Temptation -- but lacking most of the goth and with no orchestra in sight.

Odd.

Having said all that, it's hard not to root for Echoes of Eternity based on their promising raw materials, but they better start cooking something special with them soon, before they're pulled from their label's menu.