Considering the previous two releases –‘Rather Ripped’ and ‘Sonic Nurse’, The Eternal is a ballsy return to raw aggressiveness. With Kim Gordon playing an angry woman musician, ‘Sacred Trixter’ begins with a fervent seethe, and thanks to its unconventionality and risk, it sets a perfect tone for the things to follow. The corniness of ‘Anti-Orgasm’ can be forgiven mainly because of the noise interlude beginning half way, which is immediately followed by an eerily soothing outro. It consists of a series of well crafted guitar distortions, making it for a great background listen.

A beat club influenced ‘Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)’ has a calm Moore guiding us through the journey of the lifeboat whilst the music is tense and trippy. This antithesis by all odds gives a frission of excitement. ‘Antenna’ has the listener high-spirited and by the end of the song, when the brilliance of the Sonic Youth is looked up to attentively, the album reaches a high point in ‘What We Know’. The song starts with a killer groovy bass line by ex-Pavement's Mark Ibold. Here, Ranaldo takes the role of the wise old man, being reflective and singing the lines:

"It's been quite a ride

With you my sweet, here by my side

Funny how the mountains slide

We're stepping across the great divide

Our bodies vibrate slowly

Yeah, that we know

Bound to give it heart and soul

That's what we know about us ."

‘Poison Arrow’ revisits the halcyon days of The Velvet Underground with the dirge like tempo in which the songs are sung and the general funeral ambience. Gordon showcases a mind-numbingly mesmerizing vocal performance on ‘Calming The Snake’. It is comparable to the magical hypnotism of Patti Smith's finest performances. The virtuoso of Mark Ibold’s throbbing bass lines is prevalent throughout the album, allowing Gordon to experiment with the guitar and concentrate on vocals. His playing fits the band perfectly.’ Massage The History’ starts with fragile acoustic strumming, a whispering Gordon, and moves on to pure noise attack by the guitarists and the outro in the veins of that of ‘Anti Orgasm’, has a shockingly good feel to it.

 This is Sonic Youth's first independent label release (Matador Records) in years although they always had complete creative control at Geffen Records. Sonic Youth is a band based on strong work ethics and have had a successful career based on unconventionality that has made them heroes to a generation of alternative rock bands and their loyal fans. It's not worth the effort to see where The Eternal could rank in Sonic Youth's vast repertoire. However, the album in its finer moments has the ability to strike the chord of a listener, especially someone relatively new to Sonic Youth, deeply enough to shake their world, which very few rock bands are capable of doing.

Label: Matador Records

Year of release: 2009