6

Eyes of Eden - Faith

Female fronted metal bands have enjoyed something of a renaissance in the past few years with bands like Nightwish, Epica and Lacuna Coil hitting the big time in the scene, but of course with such a boom comes oversaturation and there are many bands who are typifying this as the moment. Unfortunately with their debut album 'Faith', Eyes of Eden show they are followers rather than innovators and there is really little to commend or recommend the album on.

There has always been a wide chasm between the innovators and leaders of female-fronted metal such as Nightwish and the imitators and generic poppy bands such as Within Temptation and Evanescence. Unfortunately 'Faith' strays far beyond even the latter. There is little to nothing that is new or experimental, all the song structures, sounds and stylings are simply borrowed from elsewhere. Whilst album closer 'Not Human Kind' is a bit bolder with it's 10-minute length, it still fails to really go anywhere or do anything that is exciting. Everything on 'Faith' seems to just plot along in a not-exciting yet also inoffensive way, and in some ways that's the most offensive thing about it.

The production is okay, inoffensively mid-level guitars hum away in a rather humdrum way in the background, the drums are well put together and the keys sections are put away from the foreground to avoid being overpowered. The vocals of course soar above this et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Describing the sound of this album is little different to describing the sound of any other average female fronted album of latest years. Think Within Temptation or Visions of Atlantic and you've probably got the sat down to a pat.

Overall 'Faith' is really not going to appeal to anyone. They are not interesting enough to warrant attention from the serious female-fronted fan and lack the fanbase or the catchyness to try and attempt a Within Temptation or Evanescence style breakthrough into the mainstream. You have to wonder really who exactly this band was aimed at. If you're a completist this will be worth getting, if not then steer clear for now!