Edenbridge
Arcana
Sensory
Epic, operatic power metal that would not be out of place on the big stage, perhaps Beyreuth, after the Wagner Festival. Edenbridge is fronted by Sabine Edelsbacher, a woman with an amazing vocal talent – she obviously could pack the opera houses, so why go with metal? I think the answer is that she and her band have an excellent power metal ensemble, so why mess with perfection?
Edenbridge is almost too perfect, too precise, too exact. They’re the only metal band I’ve heard where a keyboard takes over for the guitar and convinces me that I am listening to a classical orchestra. “Color My Sky” is the song and it’s an enigma. I found myself listening to it several times just to make sure that there were, in fact guitar parts – oh, there are and they’re excellent, but the combination of Edelsbacher’s strikingly powerful soprano and the keyboards and rhythm section is mindblowing. Yet the metal leads are not neglected in the least, they just didn’t need to be there for that song… Of course, this takes nothing away form the choral parts, which are appropriately uplifting. “The Whisper of the Ages” is another mind blower. It begins with a flourish of metal sitar (sure!), features again that amazing voice, and finishes with a lead break that could have been penned by Handel. In short, any nay-sayer to heavy metal can be and will be shut up by this album. Another one I could shatter the provincial attitudes of my opera snob relatives. Then again, I want this all for myself!
Sensory Records: http://www.lasercd.com • Edenbridge: http://www.edenbridge.org
