ECHOES OF EDENSONGEdensongEclectic Prog3.52 | 22 ratings |
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Angelo
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin |
Two years after their well received debut, which was largely a recording effort by James Byron
Schoen with help of some guest musicians, Edensong is a full blown band again. Again, because they
were a band under the name Echoes of Eden in the late '90s. That band was a trio, consisting of
Schoen, Anthony Waldman and Benjamin Wigler. After a reunion on stage during 3RP in 2009, Waldman
became the permanent drummer for Edensong, and an old Echoes of Eden track, Beneath the Tide
was re-arranged and re-recorded by Edensong. The track is indeed a nice piece of progressive metal,
in the vein of some of the tracks of The Fruit Fallen but with more metal influences, consisting of
interleaving metal riff driven parts and more melodic (acoustic?) guitar parts. Toward the end, the
metal riffs disappear for a while, in favour of a melodic piece that is carried by guitar and
keyboards akin in sound to older Genesis material, with Barry Seroff's flute appearing as a nice
contrast to the closing riff.
The second track, Lorelai is a ballad, played on acoustic guitar and sung nicely. It might
have fit better on a full concept album, now it gets a bit lost amongst the heavier tracks. It's a
song with a good cause though, it was written to support the fundraising and support for victims of
the Haitian earthquake in January 2010. After Lorelai, it's back to the more metal akin side of
Edensong, with the complex, multi layered To See but not Believe. The potential of guitar,
keyboard, vocals and the availability of flute is put to good use here. Here I have to mention that
Mike Lunapiena is the cello player for Edensong, but it takes a while to spot his sound when
listening to the album the first couple of times.
After the three new tracks, we find well played live renditions of Beneath the Tide and the
tracks Reunion and The Sixth Day from the band's debut. These three allow those who
haven't seen the band live to enjoy the sounds of different line ups and additional guest musicians.
It's good to know that the band can deliver on the promise of the debut album in a live show, and as
with The Fruit Fallen, I keep waiting for the day the band does make the trip across the Atlantic.
If not, I can only hope my vacation in Canada goes through next year and Edensong plays close to
where I am then.
As far as judgement of this album goes, it's nice to know the band is still there, and that new
things are underway, but overall I think The Fruit Fallen will get more playing time than this one.
Angelo |
3/5 |
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