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Eden's Fall: Harmony of lies
03/04/06 || Statik Majik
Once again I got around to review a band I never heard of before. Fine by me, that’s part of the job anyway. So I surfed the net for few minutes in order to find at least some info about Eden’s Fall and their debut album called “Harmony of lies”. And what do you know, immediately I stumbled upon the following info: This shit was mixed by Dan Swanö and mastered by James Murphy. Ok then, now you definitely got my attention. You fucken better not disappoint me now, Eden’s Fall, or else… Well, or else… Ok, nevermind.
The artwork of the album says nothing about the music, even though it does look good. Very, very Dave McKean-ish if you ask me (yes, that was a compliment). But I’d like the artwork to reflect the music you know, even it it’s only remotely. Unless “Eden’s Fall” sings about wooden puppets (I don’t have the lyric-sheet for this shit, since it’s a fucken promo), I suppose the main purpose of the cover is just to look neat. Not that it has anything to do with this review, but I just happen to be a sucker for fancy artwork and I make sure to make comments about them whenever possible.
The music on “Harmony of lies” is pretty fucken good. Maybe a bit flamboyant for my taste, but only a bit. Generally speaking it’s fucken heavy. Simple, straightforward and fucken heavy. And on top of that, it’s filled with catchy riffs. I found myself nodding my head every once in a while, which usually means that I dig it. Sometimes even more than the average shit out there.
Did I mention yet that it’s, you know, heavy?
I’d say that the music Eden’s Fall play has a few things in common with some heavier shit from Overkill and Testament and some of the catchier tunes from Metallica. And I do mean the Metallica from the 80’s. Now that I think of it, maybe here’s something in common with the “faster” tunes by Judas Priest as well. But generally “Harmony of lies” is a fucken bunch heavier than most of the bands I used as comparison. “Planet hate” (I swear that at first I read that as “Project Hate”, hahah) could – musicwise – easily pass for any slow-tempo death metal tune out there.
The vocals… Now that’s a tough one. I think I kind of like them. Clean vocals, sometimes sung at higher and sometimes at lower ranges. Even if I’m more into heavier grunts and growls myself, most of the times I dig John Barr’s voice. There’s something extremely familiar with his vocal style though, but I just can’t remember where (I think) I recognize them. From time to time he sounds like Rob Halford or Eric Adams. Or even Phil Anselmo, “Cowboys From Hell” -era, which ain’t that bad to start with. But every once in a while I find myself wondering that maybe, just maybe, the parts which are sung at higher range are too.. well, “cheesy”? And a few times I even get the impression as if the vocalist is smiling while singing. As weird as it may sound, on these few occasions I almost get a Helloween vibe from this. And to me Helloween equals happiness. And you guessed it, that’s a feeling that does not belong in metal, trust me. ( Note by The Lord. Well, you do suck great coyote, of course I trust you. Sorry, I just had to get a fucken comment in there somewhere, haha… )
And then the production… Well, what do you expect? Did you read the first paragraph of this review? Who are involved in mixing/mastering this album? Exactly. And I guarantee that the professionalism of the people involved shows.
I fucken love pleasant surprises. And “Harmony of lies” happened to be one. I’m not ready to become their most devoted fan, not quite yet, but they convinced me that they can produce solid, enjoyable music. So they get following, well earned score:
7 /10
- Information
- Released: 2006
- Label: Nothingheart Records
- Website: www.edensfall.com
- Band
- John Barr: vocals
- Dan Gronowski: bass, backing vocals
- Tony Gronowski: guitar, backing vocals
- Rob Aqunio: electric and accoustic guitars
- Ray Smith: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Blur the lines
- 02. Planet hate
- 03. Lost again
- 04. Chemical dreams
- 05. Bleed
- 06. Dead thought matrix
- 07. Liquid Christ
- 08. We betray
- 09. Nothingheart
