A must-hear album for melodic metal fans!
What do you get if you mix the raw metal attitude of Iron Maiden with the intricate guitar shredding of Dragonforce? I’ll tell you what - a powerful rock explosion so mind-blowing that it’ll leave you reeling. Surely this is the desired effect every fan hopes to achieve when they listen to metal musicians doing what they arguably do best? Many metal muses have tried to achieve this dizzying height of rock ingenuity and sadly most have failed. However I have found a band that is very much in the minority - not only has ingenuity been achieved, but surpassed! And the name of this magnificent creation, these Gods of Rock, you may be asking yourself...?
Empires of Eden.
Created by Paindivision and ex-Dungeon guitarist Stu Marshall, Empires of Eden with their album ‘Songs of War and Vengeance’ are thundering their way to metal stardom. Also in the band are esteemed vocalists Crimsonfire’s Louie Gorgievski, ex-Transcending Mortality’s Mike Zoias and session vocalist Chris Ninni. As if that’s not impressive enough, the album also features a 30-piece orchestra - the quality here speaks for itself!
The album bursts into life with an opening track of pure, intricate guitar shredding that sent shivers up my spine. As the album goes on, the vocals soar, the drums crash and the bassline thunders, add to this the dark presence of the orchestra that is understated but vital to the overall effect, what can I say except "wow"! Prepare to have your socks well and truly rocked off! My favourite track has got to be track 10 which, although very dark and goosebump-inducing, did put a smile on my face as the vocalist’s strong Australian accent made it difficult for me to take his menacing monologue seriously. The album draws to a serene but consistently atmospheric close with a beautiful orchestral contribution - it’s mesmerising!
I really am struggling to find even a tiny criticism of this album, every track has its own unique appeal which makes you powerless to resist listening to it from start to finish. This will be extremely attractive to listeners who want more out of their musical experience than just a monotonous melodic punch in the chops, an unfortunate description of many of metal’s wannabe stars these days. It’s so good it feels like a sin to listen to it, that’s as close to a criticism as I’m going to get!
Empires of Eden aren’t the shy retiring type. Oh no, their talk is as big as their music, describing the album as “...a history-making metal masterpiece”. This, however, is a more than justified statement - where have they been hiding? This band is destined to be international superstars!
To find out more about this incredible collaboration, you can check out their myspace