Edenwar
Edenwar

August 2015
Released: 2015, Indie
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: JP

There are times when a composer brings something so unique and interesting to the table that many people want to be involved. Such is the case with Edenwar. Founder and composer Nicholas Dobernak had an idea and a vision or a symphonic Metal sound and in a relatively short time a number of international guest stars were involved in the bands self-titled debut album.



EDENWAR (the album) was released in June of 2015 with a number of positive reviews from Metal press. The excellent presentation (with nice cover art), cool band name and very good production value made this already set the band ahead of the pack. The album is short, nine songs clocking in at a mere 38 minutes, preferring perhaps to showcase their best material rather than going for a bombastic 70 minute plus album.



Dobernack recruited an emerging young talent from Mexico in the form of singer, Anna Fiori who is known in some of the deeper Power Metal circles. Unlike many female-fronted symphonic Metal projects, Fiori is not a soprano and/or Tarja clone, she has her own distinct and powerful style. The music while bombastic and symphonic certainly reminds you that it is Metal loud and pure not forgetting to throw in double-kick drums, tons of crunchy guitars and burst of aggression. The compositions have an epic feel but really are not that long, they take one or two strong ideas and use them. Songs rang from seven minutes at the longest down to short catchy three minute tunes. There are tons of symphonic elements choirs, violins, acoustic piano and orchestration all over the place as well as a few familiar voices. There is some superb solo work on perhaps what is the albums centre-piece 'The Agony of Mankind', which ebbs and flows with atmosphere and passion .



Many bands use the appearances of guests as a selling point, (usually on a sticker on the front of the album!) which is understandable but even before I knew who was working with the band as guest performers, I was totally impressed by Edenwar. A cynical, critical and negative-minded colleague of mine once pointed out that anyone can pay a famous person to appear on their album. I really doubt this is the case. Sure, artists deserve compensation but artists will not put their name to something that sucks! So accordingly, I feel that the members of Delain, Orphaned, Land, Therion and none other than Fabio “The Golden God’ Lione (Rhapsody, Angra) embraced this world-class project and they saw the same inherent level of quality that I see and hear.



Despite all the high-profile guests on the album, the debut album by EDENWAR certainly stands on it’s own merits on terms of compositions, performance and overall execution make this one of the most exciting debuts albums I have heard this year.