Can you judge an album by the cover artwork? Hell yeah, at times! Opposed to the mediocrity/plainness of lots of other music genres' album covers, an expressive Metal artwork is a strong 'plus' in order to depict key-points of the music lurking inside. This was the sole reason I grabbed "When Eden Burns. Did it turn to be a wise choice? So and so (since I was expecting something more of a 'classic' Metal release)...
The Swedish 'speed' metallers release their newest effort three years after the semi-successful Evolution Purgatory album. Both Emil Norberg and Jens Carlsson also appear on Savage Circus, the new band(?) assembled by ex-Blind Guardian skinsman Thomas Stauch. Hmmm...Iron Savior mainman Piet Sielk acts as the producer in this album and the vision is now starting to get clearer.
"When Eden Burns falls to the trap of the Blind Guardian (and - lately - Savage Circus) 'creating formula', let aside the fact that the vocals come from Hansi's 'alter ego' himself. Rather professional 'copying', but still a 'copy'. And, in the case of BG, the original is so distinctive that you can't hide your intension. The good thing is that the band presents a more 'old-fashioned' Teutonic Metal songwriting, something many fans are missing in many German bands' current status. In brief: you get furious drumming, choir vocals, some 'aggressive' moments here and there, countless leads/harmonic duos and - overall - a fitting 'production'. Still, no single tune someone is likely to keep in mind an hour after the track listing comes to an end. And this is not that good...
Blind Guardian fans: proceed.
Teutonic Metal fans: check it out.
The rest: I would not recommend it.
Shit, and the playing is so good...