Review by Adam M on October 14, 2010.

This is a spirited metal effort that has a lot of energy. The songs carry an impact from one track to the next. The album has an undeniable influence of folk melodies, but seems to carry similarities to Power Metal as well. There is a heroic aura to the proceedings that gives the band an authentic approach. They perform melodramatic material that has emotional punch and hits straight to the heart.

The music here sometimes pulls on your heartstrings, but at others it just drags on. This is because the band shares a lot of similarities to the Power Metal genre, though they don’t entirely fit into it. That means the tunes to be found here are at times uplifting, while at others underwhelming. This can be seen from the track 'Afterworld' which is catchy and epic, but gets slightly mired down by a cheesy approach. The performances here are reasonably well done with vocals that have a theatric style and aren’t overly memorable, but somewhat efficient. All in all, there are moments that stick out, but also ones that drag and that makes the album fall a little short of what the band could achieve. There’s enough of a pleasing mindset to generate some attention, but not enough potency and overall impact to really make this an outstanding listen.

Fans of traditional and Power Metal might find something to like here if they don’t go expecting an absolute masterpiece. "Guardian Of Eternity" is regardless a good album that is definitely worth a listen or two. The band put together enough melodic material to provide an enjoyable, if unspectacular listen.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7.5
Originality: 6.5
Overall: 7

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Luka on May 13, 2001.

Whoa, with an album name like this and a totally indecipherable logo, these guys must be seriously evil!

Furious black-death metal from France that makes you wanna press ‘stop’ on your CD player rather than do what the title suggests. Blah, blah, blah, I’ve heard all the things the fanatics say about Antaeus and their kind, "complex, raw, totally Satanic and evil music the way it was meant to be". It may be that to some people but deep down it’s just a really really bad record done by a really really bad band. It seems complex because there’s pretty much no production done whatsoever. Everything is distorted and seems complicated simply because you can’t tell one riff from another and the drummer seems to follow no rhythm but does annoying blast beats and adds unnecessary drum fills every about three seconds.

The singer does the black metal rasp thing and once in a while adds a death growl just for good measure. Wow, all hail this master of the mike, he can do both! The lyrics aren’t printed because they probably suck as much as that new 12 year-old rapper’s. At least the kid’s on MTV and earns thousands.

Bottom Line: Brutal black-death metal release. Totally brutal and crushing. Brutal and merciless. The kind of brutal you use when something really sucks! Brutal, brutal, brutal, brutal!! HAHAHA!!! The word’s lost all it’s meaning, just like black metal...

Rating: 5 out of 10

Review by Krys on July 14, 2001.

Let me start by saying that Circle of Dead Children is not your typical grind band. Sure there are 17 tracks in 28:37 min., however “The Genocide Machine” is far from a generic gore-grind album. These guys have found almost a perfect mix of hardcore, grind, death or even doom without compromising the aggression and fury characteristic to this genre.

“The Genocide Machine” will challenge your ears and your mind. Uncharacteristically to most of the gore-grind bands, the lyrics are very well written and surprisingly thought provoking and absorbing. It’s well worth the time to sit down and read through them. Combined with very well thought musical background they create a sick and deranged atmosphere, which can satiate the most demanding fans. Jason Andrews’ guitar creates a wall of sound that can rip your soul and with help from rhythm section they’ll decapitate your body. Special attention should be paid to Joe Horvath’s vocals which, by seamlessly going from deep sickening guttural gurgle to high pitched screams, make you think there are at least two vocalists in this band. If not for a few tracks that are not more than just fillers this release would score the highest grade.

Highlights of the album are definitely opener ‘Migration’, ‘The Genocide Machine’, ‘Cremationism (Become the Flame)’, ‘Corpses Of Refinement (aka The Men Behind The Sun)’ and ‘Beethoven’s Children’ which stand for the ultimate expression of rage, anger and the band’s determination to become a leader in today’s extreme metal scene.

Bottom Line: “The Genocide Machine” represents the state of the art in brutal music and is an essential release in any metal music collector.

Ratting: 8.5 out of 10