Eterna

Eterna is one of the defining bands of Brazil's Christian metal ("white metal") scene, formed in São Paulo in 1995 under the name Refúgio. In 1996 the group settled into a power trio — Alexandre Soul, Danilo Lopes and Paulo Frade — and adopted the name Eterna. Their 1997 debut, Shema Israel, became a landmark record for Catholic heavy metal in Brazil. Papyrus (1999) was recorded entirely in English and distributed in Europe as well as Brazil, pushing the band beyond the church circuit. The Gate (2001) and Terra Nova (2002) continued that run. The original trio ended its run in 2003, and Epiphany (2004), with vocalist Leandro Caçoilo, is widely praised as the best-produced record of their career. A long hiatus followed until Spiritus Dei, with eleven of its thirteen tracks in Portuguese as a deliberate return to the debut's roots. The founding trio reunited in 2015 for a commemorative tour and has performed intermittently since.