I know nothing about the Future Bible Heroes, their background, biography or other such tidbits which knowledgeable reviewers are normally expected to possess. I have read no other reviews of the album “Eternal Youth” and I’m writing this purely from a first-spin, uninformed-listener point of view. Be warned!

Quite simply it’s the lo-fi indie music you might expect from a group with such a tragically hip name as the Future Bible Heroes. The “Future” bit brings with it some electronic undertones, the playful computer stuff that became popularised by the thousands of video games released in the 80s and early 90s, and it’s actually not half-bad at times. Still, the synthesised music does feel a bit forced in places and could do with the less grandiose fantasy-methul touches, as seen in “Viennese Lift” and “Bathysphere”. Future Bible Heroes are definately more edible when they use the synth as a tool to achieve some musical purpose, rather than just showing off their elite skills at looping and arranging things on a computer. Examples of both are found throughout, and the latter certainly detracts from the overall quality and sleekness of the album.

Figuring in at about 40 minutes of listening time, I feel like “Eternal Youth” could still be cut and cropped to make the album even tighter. Of course, it wouldn’t be much of an album then, and this is part of the problem: there’s just too damned little material to pull it off as a well-rouned record. Yes, there are highlights like the humorous “I’m a Vampire”, falsely upbeat “Smash the Beauty Machine” and rich, hazy “From Some Dying Star”, but there’s too much dead air and plain boring material to make “Eternal Youth” a real masterpiece of the genre.

Year Released: 2002
Label: Instinct Records
Related Link: Future Bible Heroes Official Site
Date Reviewed: 2003-12-24
Author: Andreas