You know those bands that your friends tell you about? That you've never heard from and aren't all that interested in? You know, that band that he/she is obsessed with, and swears they will be big one day? Well, Eden Maine is one of those bands, and as far as the metal world is concerned, they will grow to be very popular (even though they have caused a buzz already within many circles)
First thing is first about not only this album and genre... It's an aquired taste, you either have it or you don't. Most people have it, but the main knock on Harcore music is that you can't understand what the hell the Singer is saying, That Hardcore has good lyrics, but they are masked under an unrecognizable voice that is just annoying. Well, yes, I had to look up lyrics sites to Find out what Adam was saying on most of the album (and they didn't really help, because I still couldn't tell what he was saying) But at the same time, that's not what Hardcore/Metalcore is about. Metalcore is more about emotion than anything, and trust me, this album has a great amount of Emotion.
Eden Maine (Like most Metalcore Bands) have a great mix of Voice and Musicianship
which is shown throughout the whole album, the guitar in the entire album is completely melodic and makes you pay attention with everynote, Kieran's drumming keeps the tempo very high, and Adam's yelling takes your breath away (and his as well, his vocal chords will be wrecked when he's older) The three hardest songs are as hard as their titles suggest.
Hail Satan (The First Proper Song) Starts at a peak, and showcases an even amount of everything good, great, fast drumming, solid bass, insane guitar, and relentless vocals, Eden Maine let's you know that they are at their best when they are loud and agrressive. Another breakneck song is
Do Not Move A Muscle, Do Not Breathe A Word Kieran's drumming really shines through in this song and the lyrics are actually distinguishable
"He told us how there is a fine line between order and chaos,
that there are those in life who do not know what they are fighting for,
but that it is the fight that counts,
and that a man without principles is a fool only to himself."
And perhaps the Hardest song is
The Acidic Taste Of Betrayal, a hopeless attack that shows Adam at his angriest. And the gutair is very noticeable on this track.
But this album isn't all Wearing down, Screaming, Depression and Ear Drum Defying. The Albums Calmest track is
The Atheist Light which is actually quite beautiful. Though the guitar is pounding, and the drums are as quick as they ever were, the song starts and ends very calmly and melodically.
The Atheist Light is on of four Instrumental tracks (Though the other 3 are much shorter) which actually helps the album a lot
Solstitium,
Voices, and
Echoes serve a great purpose, they give a break from the vocals of the album, which if all of the songs were as breakneck songs like
I Am What You Are quite honestly, the album would be a bit exausting after a while, that's what I mean when I say they balance Vocals and Musicianship very nicely.
The most complex and layered song on the album is
Murder Was Her Name which has everything, High tempo drumming, Fiery vocals, and Melodic guitar breaks, that somehow holds up without falling apart.
The best song on the album is easily
The Hunter And The Hunted which you can tell was made to be a single, and with the most catchy guitar riff i've heard lately, it makes the song very accesible to people who may not like this genre of music. The song starts out with a guitar riff and then drums join in, and then come the bone crushing vocals courtesy of Adam Symonds. A song that could launch Eden Maine into stardom if it gets played for enough people.
In
More Fireflies For The Candlelight The drumming of Kieran Ilse is at is at it's best and fastest.
The album ends with
Disinformasiya. The word "Epic" isn't good enough to describe this 13+ Minute sign-off which ends extremely well: With a harmonic guitar playing for minutes and eventually fading out to cement Eden Maine as a very promising group to come out of the UK.
This is a nice Debut album (Not counting their EP The Treachery Pact) to begin Eden Maine's career, but you can tell that these guys have nowhere to go but up. So to any fans of Eden Maine: Keep telling everyone, because I have a feeling that this is far from the last time we will hear from these five from Hertfordshire.
