Band : Amberian Dawn
Album title : End Of Eden
Label : Spinefarm Records
Distributor : Suburban - Bertus
Release Date : 20/10/2010
Release : CD

This is an album that left me with mixed feelings. Musically it’s a gem, very good symphonic metal, with lots of tempo changes, great guitar work, a solid rhythm section, and songs that boast intricate arrangements as well as classical influenced parts.

Then why will you say mixed feelings?  Well, Heidi Parviainen has a crystal clear voice, sings the stars of heaven, but I am not used to a metal CD where almost from start to end you hear someone singing like he, or rather she is singing an opera.  This gets pretty boring after two or three songs.  A shame really, cause she does have a very good voice.  Mind you, I have no objection to a little bit of opera-esque singing, but a whole album, that’s too much.

As if things weren’t bad enough, the penultimate song ‘Vivatulen laulu’ she does a duet with a real opera singer Markus Nieminen. It’s a song that would do well if played on ‘Night Of The Proms’ or so, but is in the wrong place on a metal album.
Then there’s the final track, which sounds a lot doomier then the others, and on which the former vocalist of Amberian Dawn Peter James Goodman lends a helping hand.  This song boasts a totally different approach, but is not enough to save the album.

With some more variation in the vocals I might start liking this band, because musically they are already top notch, and the vocals are in itself good enough song by song, but as said before I get bored after two or three songs.

75/100

Erik Morren.