Hailing from Austria and formed in 1998 symphonic power metallers Edenbridge have released 6 full length albums and 2 live albums. Signed to German label Massacre Records in 1999, they moved over to Napalm Records in 2006 for a worldwide deal. Also in 2006 they got to tour England then Asia. A lot of band member changes took place within the 12 years of being a group but nevertheless Edenbridge are still here and seemingly stronger than ever and now they are set to release their seventh album ‘Solitaire’.
Opening up with the intro track ‘Entree Unique’ which impressively sounds purely atmospheric, and it made me feel I was getting ready for some sort of magical journey. The keyboards on the album title track ‘Solitaire’ sound haunting, and the drumming at the same pace is just immense! The vocals kicked in and I was immediately a little disappointed. To me they just don’t seem strong enough for this kind of music. ‘Skylines End’ was a track that I quite liked. The guitar riff is quite unique and the keyboards have an almost oriental feel added to it. The vocals are a little more fitting on this track as the most epic parts are done by the instruments and not vocals, for example; the middle section having a folksy little bit you can jig along to and when the chorus does come up its full group harmonic group vocals. Another track I favoured was ‘A Virtual Dream’ with its rocky riffs and thrashy drumming; again, I didn’t feel her vocals were much good apart from in the choruses.
I wasn’t greatly impressed with Edenbridge. Mostly throughout the album I felt the singer Sabine Edelsbacher’s vocal range just wasn’t strong enough for this kind of music. (Think of Nightwish singer Annette and how much better they sounded with Tarja). The keyboards were very impressive, I couldn’t fault them one bit, along with the drumming and guitar work.
OK, so not the worst band I have heard, but certainly not the best. I’d be interested to see an Edenbridge gig and find out if they are any better live.
http://www.myspace.com/edenbridge
