One look at the cover for ‘Cold Velvet’ should give you a pretty clear indication of exactly what The Night Eternal have in store for you: the group have a penchant for theatrics, for allure and for the macabre, and it’s these traits that made 2023’s  ‘Fatale’— an excellent record— such a success. After that triumphant breakthrough, you might’ve expected Baum and company to dig their heels even deeper into all things goth, and The Night Eternal are doing just that in some respects. This bag of tricks may be running a little dry though.

Given the flamboyant posing and swirling smoke on that aforementioned cover, it’s hardly a surprise to see that the greatest asset ‘Cold Velvet’ has at its disposal is mystique, a tool it relies on almost too heavily. Lead single ‘Where This World Ends’ may be packed with memorable lead work and a stomping bridge section, but it’s the track’s enticing choruses and excellent melodies across the board that’ll really draw you in. Ricardo Baum’s vocals are just as enthralling here as they were on ‘Fatale,’ walking a fine line between intensity and seduction on the skulking ‘Caught In A Spell.’ These eight tracks are swathed in darkness, as you’ll hear most notably on the cinematic introductions afforded to ‘The Watcher of the Burning Veil’ and ‘Dance on Crimson Ground’— The Night Eternal seems quite aware of their greatest strength, making it a trick they pull out at every opportunity.

But beneath its stylish guise, ‘Cold Velvet’ is rooted in the old-school heavy metal tropes we all know and love: it’s not a criticism in-and-of-itself that you can hear just how much influence a band like Mercyful Fate have had on this record, not when The Night Eternal bring their own gothic twist to the sound. These eight songs are backed by a series of pretty thrilling drum performances, even if the album’s mix isn’t all-too interested in showing them off— ‘Eurydice (Don’t Look Back),’ which is probably the most energetic cut the band have put together this time around, has the talents of guitarists Richter and Käseberg on display, even if they are again rather understated. All of which is to say, the band behind ‘Cold Velvet’ is solid as they come, and whenever you hit play on a song from this crew, you know it’ll be a dependable outing from the off.

Perhaps that only adds to the inescapable feeling that The Night Eternal are just going through the motions on their new album though, a thought that snuffs the light from a track like ‘The Veins of Time.’ There are most definitely highlights to be enjoyed here, but even after listening through the record from start to finish, your ears will probably still prick up to hear ‘In Tartarus’ and ‘Stars Guide My Way,’ both of which made ‘Fatale’ a more exciting exercise in goth metal goodness than ‘Cold Velvet.’ Baum and company spend far too much time soaking in the atmosphere on this one, leaving us with the needlessly extended ‘Dance on Crimson Ground’ and the been-there-done-that ‘When the Last Candle Dies.’ The band are certainly capable of putting together infectious mid-tempo numbers, as the insanely catchy hook on ‘Caught In A Spell’ proves, but all the same, it isn’t necessarily their calling.

That being said, The Night Eternal can and will get you singing along: if its layered atmosphere is the record’s greatest strength, its thunderous melodies aren’t far behind. ‘Cold Velvet’ is at its best when the group really let loose, allowing their heavy metal roots to shine through: the project gets off to an excellent start with ‘Where This World Ends’ and ‘Eurydice (Don’t Look Back)’ for that very reason, and ‘Shape of Sorrow’ manages to take that idea and run even further with it, becoming a clear highlight along the way. The group could probably be doing more to elevate this material— Rob Richter flirts with the idea of a guitar solo on ‘The Veins of Time,’ but never really puts his money where his mouth is— but we’d be hard-pressed to argue against these cuts, which are nothing if not entertaining. If The Night Eternal are looking for a direction to take in the future, this is it.

‘Cold Velvet’ flaunts all the same bells and whistles as its predecessor, and that’s the problem: it feels like a rerun of ‘Fatale,’ and a weaker version of it at that. We’ll offer up nothing but praise for a song like ‘Shape of Sorrow,’ where the band are playing their hearts out to win you over, but all the same, Baum and company sound like they’re becoming a little too comfy in their lane on this one. It’s for that reason that their third record is good, if not a standout.