ALBUM REVIEW OzHipHop.Com ETERNIA - It's Called Life Reported by: Mark D. (Nous) ©2005 OzHipHop.Com On the cover of It's Called Life, a young girl stares outwards, resting on a tyre-swing without an ounce of awkwardness or inhibition. She slumps in that uncorrupted way we did as children, before we grew up and learned what it is to pose. Her eyes are like dark, mysterious rabbit holes, begging us to crawl through into her mind's Wonderland. This young girl would grow into Eternia - the boldly-voiced, brazenly upfront, Canadian emcee who tore up Triple J airwaves in 2003 with 'Movin', and got the scene buzzing in 2005 with a string of devastating live shows. It's not exactly clear what kind of world she sees with those deep, enigmatic eyes, but a cover like this bears a certain unspoken promise: if we listen to the album, we will find out. Eternia lives up to this promise on It's Called Life, harnessing the unbridled straightforwardness that characterises her rhyme-style, and bravely turning it towards those things closest to her: unapologetically sharing her outlooks, frankly stating her feelings, and narrating her family history in earnest, journalistic detail, which is warm without being romantic. 'Truth' - an ethereal instrumental opener - sets the album afloat down this intimately personal stream. Schizophrenic whispers meander above a ghostly blend of choir vocals and piano keys, launching us head first into the solipsistic solitude of Eternia's consciousness. This indecipherable mish-mash of wandering thoughts and internal conflicts is soon siphoned into the narratives and metaphors which underpin the album's progressive storytelling. 'Family' is the first major step in this process - a shot of organ-infused urgency, in which Eternia explores the conflicting feelings arising from family bloodlines, paying special attention to the legacy left by her estranged father: "He landed with a dream of a dynasty, finally / a chance to advance with a blonde on his arm / and he stayed well armed, for men he would harm / what he had, what he felt, what he earned, what he conned / from those less fortunate - less ready - now gone / in a bag, over hills that the rest skied upon / I knew all along that was wrong / What does that make me if I am his spawn?" The album's unadulterated autobiography continues with the stunningly poignant 'Love', Eternia's heartfelt letter of gratitude to her mother for sacrifices of birth and parenthood. Even when grappling with unsettling possibilities - namely, the closeness her mother came to terminating the pregnancy - Eternia's narration remains strikingly solemn and mature. She doesn't lament her own potential non-existence, or resent her mother's near-decisions, but instead weeps respect, adoration and unwavering devotion. The blissful affinity of a mother's selflessness living on through her daughter. DJ Mercilless' intense yet delicate production matches the track's near-abortion narrative perfectly. Thriving heartbeat drums and a piercing lifeline chime burst into the sound-scape, ringing out into near-nothingness before being saved at the last moment - blossoming into a flutter of vibrant woodwind. The rest of It's Called Life wisely veers away from the weightiness of hard-line autobiography, which in excess might make the album seem transparent and artless. After openly chronicling where she comes from, Eternia moves on to show us who she is via subtler storytelling and concept tracks. 'Balance' is a slyly allegorical tale, playing on all-too-common feelings of divided love and competing allegiance. 'Understand (If I)' is a pleasantly produced collaboration with Arsonists member, Freestyle, that has the interchanging emcees apologising to loved ones for the time they don't have while chasing their dreams. 'Struggle' has Eternia joined by Wordsworth and Ken Starr over ascending layers of harp, electric guitar, and keyboard. Each emcee takes this dizzyingly-elevated platform as their refuge from the rat race, peering down reflectively upon the trials and tribulations of everyday life. For anyone worried that amongst all this reminiscence and self-expression Eternia has lost her ability to spit venom, the album's explosive closer 'Bang' is reason to think again. Eternia packs the stripped down beat with three verses of lyrical dynamite, interrogating eardrums with the brutal bass in her voice, fuelling chaos with her deliciously acidic inflections, and snapping vertebrae everywhere with the headnod hook of the year: "Existence is resistance to the status quo / if you know then say so / (Bang your head to this!)" If It's Called Life has one frustrating flaw it is that it is lacks the cohesion required to constitute a great album, and instead settles for being a good album with great components. While there are practically no bad songs on the disc - excluding of course the going-through-the-motions, "I don't give a fuck" tedium of 'Hate' - a lot of good songs lose their impact due to bad placement. The isolation and frailty felt on the album's atmospheric introduction, 'Truth', undercuts the fear-nothing hunger that drives the album's opening track, 'Evidence'. The emotional weight of 'Family' is marred by its preceding track, a gimmicky and utterly stupid rant by the Justus League's Cesar Comanche. Even the show-stopping, grand finale that is 'Bang' loses some of its resonance when followed by a pointless hidden track: fifteen seconds of silence, some guy's mumbled words and some laughter. In the end though, It's Called Life is worth its price tag if only for the sum of its parts. While it doesn't trawl as deep in its psychological exploration as say, Aesop Rock's Labor Days or Cage's Hell's Winter, it still bears a similar aura of unabashed, naked honesty, which is rare from hungry young emcees. It is an ambitiously personal and thoroughly rewarding debut from a promising artist, who still projects the untarnished authenticity and self-assurance of the child she once was. Eternia speaks her mind without an ounce of awkwardness or inhibition, and faces the world candidly and comfortably - still refusing to pose. Best Tracks: Love, Balance, Understand (If I), Struggle, Bang