Founded in 1996, melodic death metal band Eternal Tears of Sorrow released their sixth studio album Children of the Dark Waters in May 2009. The band, which entered the official Finnish charts, refined the dark tones of their previous album Before the Bleeding Sun in an even darker direction, and the band also carefully picked up influences from melodic black metal.

Released by Suomen Musiikki and the German label Massacre Records, Children of the Dark Waters was recorded, like its predecessors, at the legendary Tico Tico Studio in Kemi and mastered at Finnvox in Helsinki in spring 2009. The album's first single, Tears of Autumn Rain, featured guest appearances by Ram-Zet singer Miriam Renvåg and her colleague Heidi Parviainen from Amberian Dawn.

Svart Records will release Eternal Tears of Sorrow's Children of the Dark Waters on vinyl for the first time in October 2026. The album will be released in three vinyl versions, of which the white-turquoise vinyl edition with black marbling is available exclusively from Svart Records' online store, a limited edition of 100 copies. The beautiful black smoke-stained transparent vinyl and the classic black LP are now also available for pre-order from specialist online retailers worldwide.