Edenian - Winter Shades
The debut from recently formed Ukraine band Edenian will strike listeners as being incredibly similar to the Gothic Doom Metal approach of Sweden's beauty and beast masters Draconian. With a similar approach to depressive titled and lyrics, some in old english and some in modern, the epic collection of 'Winter Shades' has quite a mentor to live up to if they really want to take cuts and influences from Draconian. Fortunately, Edenian pay their respects through forging a similar sound but not trying to copy everything altogether. The mesh of growls and clean female singing certainly can be comparable on tracks like "Thy Heaven Wept In Mourning," and the heaps of piano is beautiful to behold. However, one thing that Edenian does a bit different from Draconian is throw in clean male singing along with the growling, whereas Draconian just uses spoken poetic passages. Some might argue that this suits Edenian quite well, or just drags them farther down the spiral of 'typical Gothic Doom' as many other bands use this approach all too often such as My Dying Bride. Still, naysayers will warm up to the icy cold riffs of darkness and depression along with the landscaping beauty provided by the keyboards to hold the background when hearing a beauty like "The Fields Where I Died."
Sometimes the female vocals will get their own song here and there. "Embittered Silence" is one of the few to actually be considered a ballad as the female vocals and piano lead most of the track, but later on the male growls come in with the guitars, creating an excellent thunderous contrast but somewhat ruining the beauty that the music originally started with. "Fall The Dusk" shows a strong balance between both male and female vocals; usually it seems like the male snarls are taking most of the verse and interlude sections while leaving the female vocals only to take sections of the chorus. Here, it seems like the roles are reversed, and it is nice to see the other side of the vocals get more time to show off its talents, either in the harsh or clean fashion. The closing instrumental picks up where the opening left off: somber piano backed by keyboards and the same dramatic atmosphere that lets listeners settle down after going through the depressive play. It is a nice touch to finish things up and shows the softer side of Edenian, which will probably invite fans to spin the album a few more times rather than fire once and forget.
Sometimes the female vocals will get their own song here and there. "Embittered Silence" is one of the few to actually be considered a ballad as the female vocals and piano lead most of the track, but later on the male growls come in with the guitars, creating an excellent thunderous contrast but somewhat ruining the beauty that the music originally started with. "Fall The Dusk" shows a strong balance between both male and female vocals; usually it seems like the male snarls are taking most of the verse and interlude sections while leaving the female vocals only to take sections of the chorus. Here, it seems like the roles are reversed, and it is nice to see the other side of the vocals get more time to show off its talents, either in the harsh or clean fashion. The closing instrumental picks up where the opening left off: somber piano backed by keyboards and the same dramatic atmosphere that lets listeners settle down after going through the depressive play. It is a nice touch to finish things up and shows the softer side of Edenian, which will probably invite fans to spin the album a few more times rather than fire once and forget.
- Decadent Blossoms (intro)
- Thy Heavens Wept In Mourn
- Winter Shades
- The Field Where I Died
- When I Gave Her My Eden
- Embittered Silence
- Beauty Entwined
- Fall The Dusk
- Burning Horizon
- Beneath An Abstract Sun (outro)
Label: http://solitude-prod.com
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jul 24, 2012
Jul 24, 2012
Next review:
Derelict Sermon - Callousness And Deviance
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