Eden's Curse - Symphony of Sin (2013)^{Release ID: 69527}

Now here's a relatively unknown band from the UK that has had some history in their over a decade of activity, Eden's Curse. Originally formed with vocalist Michael Eden, he left the band after their first 3 albums and formed his own US incarnation. The original UK band would carry on with a different vocalist, Marco Sandron, who was the lead vocalist for Fairyland in their album Score to a New Beginning. However, he only made one song with Eden's Curse then left. And then came this album Symphony of Sin, their first album with new vocalist Nikola Mijic (Alogia). Also joining was Steve Williams, keyboardist of Power Quest, his spin-off band from DragonHeart (later DragonForce).

OK, before anything else, I would like to say this is way more than just the hard rock that people have described this album to be. I say it has more AOR-infused melodic heavy metal, taking some cues from Power Quest and Balance of Power. And it's not highly symphonic, despite the album title and that cover artwork with the cello girl (nude with leaf pasties, basically if Eve played cello).

The title opener is the one track to actually have symphonics, mostly in the intro. Other than that, it's a long 7 and a half minute epic that perfectly represents the band's sound. I'm already hearing Steve Williams' keys have that blended vibe of AOR and power metal. Nikola Mijic has a similar tone to Tobias Sammet (Avantasia, Edguy) which definitely sets the band away from those hard rock comparisons. I mean, his vocals don't have too much strength, though it can surpass how other classic hard rock/metal bands' vocalists do in their songs. A fantastic start! "Break the Silence" is more of a rock-on banger, but it's metal enough to sound similar to the catchier songs by Seventh Wonder and Heavenly. "Evil & Divine" pushes the power metal aspects further in the bass and drum kicks, despite being more mid-paced. Sadly, "Unbreakable" is not aptly named as similarly titled songs from other bands. While the melody is enjoyable, it's too cheesy and predictable, sounding too 80s for modern production.

"Fallen from Grace" is aptly titled in the sense that the song does fall from grace, yet it doesn't sound too far off from some of Vision Divine's ballads. And "Losing My Faith" has also made me lose some faith in this band. Then when we get to the next track "Rock Bottom", they've pretty much hit rock bottom. The hard rock side is more blatant and tiresome than they could ever get, not to mention formulaic. It was around this time when I was thinking this could be mainly a hard rock album after all. Luckily, the following track "Great Unknown" blends that part of their sound with the upbeat metal of their first 3 tracks, bringing back some hope in me enjoying this album and counting it as metal. "Turn the Page" switches back to mid-tempo rock, only this time it's more anthemic. That track and the previous one have given the album more strength.

"Sign of the Cross" has more of those catchy Avantasia and Heavenly vibes, though it's a little tiring at this point. Same with "Wings to Fly", though it has some progressive melody that can be heard from Threshold. "Devil in Disguise" has the best of that band can do in this offering. If I were to pick a song that summarizes the album other than the title track, it would be that one. And finally, "Where is the Love?" More like WHERE IS THE METAL?!?! I mean it still has some heaviness, but it's more of a hard rock tune than anything! Can we at least please have some symphonics and female vocals to make this sound like Delain? Such a disappointing ending for this album...

All in all, Eden's Curse's 4th album Symphony of Sin is a pretty good one. As much I enjoy it though, it is a little long and contains several flawed tracks. I've actually just listened to their sole single with Marco Sandron, "Time to Breathe", and let me tell you, that could've been a far better, more logical closing track than "Where is the Love?" There's definitely some potential in this hard rock/heavy metal band, and I would recommend Symphony of Sin to fans of that style. If they can get past the inconsistency....

Favorites: "Symphony of Sin", "Break the Silence", "Evil & Divine", "Great Unknown", "Turn the Page", "Devil in Disguise"