THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(10-TRACKS)
1-THE LAND OF FORGIVENESS
2-WOULD YOU CARE TO ARGUE?
3-NEW HEAVENS
4-BEYOND THE GATES OF EDEN
5-COURAGE
6-RETURN
7-SHAKESAPEAR
8-IT'S ONLY SLEEP
9-BELIEVE
10-I WON'T GO DOWN
CREDITS:
Jonah Blaze- Vocals, Bass, Drums, Percussion
Asa Blaze- Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
The mix of Heavy Guitars, Strings, And piano Brings to mind Queensryche circa the 'Empire' days and Savatage. There is some excellent atmospheric numbers intertwining the guitars and piano. "New Heavens" and "Return" showcase this point effectively. "Believe" and "I Won't Go Down" effectively close out this excellent debut CD. Worth tracking downThe CD, Beyond the Gates of Eden is good. It's got catchy tunes and the songs aren't repetivite. It's not a happy-sounding album, but it's not depressing either. It's definately worth listening to. In my opinion, the Gates of Eden are opening for them. "Beyond The Gates Of Eden" is a ten song and almost an hour of progressive rockbrought to us by the duo of brothers, Jonah Blaze(Vocals, Bass, and Drums) andAsa Blaze(Vocals, Guitars, and keyboards). The music X Of Eden offer isintelligent and classy melodic rock with progressive elements. Beyond the Gates Of Eden isn't instantly catchy but after a few listens songs like "New Heavens" and"Courage" sink in with some catchy hooks. This is the type of band that would fitcomfortably on Frontiers Records' roster. It's late eighties, early nineites hard rockat its best, minus the juvenile lyrics the peolple may be more familiar. Most of thesongs here are lengthy excursions and allow Asa and Jonah to show their musicalskills while also maintaining a song oriented environment. X Of Eden offer aspiritual journey into their world and fans of classy melodic rock like Crown OfThorns, Millenium,etc.will find X Of Eden enjoyable.Fans of power and progressive metal have cause to rejoice with the release of Beyond the Gates of Eden from X of Eden. The group, made up of Asa Blaze onVocals, Keyboards, Guitars and Jonah Blaze on Vocals, Bass Guitars, Drums, putstogether a feast of melodic metal that is full or power chords and progressive Elements. If that was not enough, the band mixes in classical elements like Piano and Keyboards to provide even more atmosphere. The band has definite Iron Maiden andQueensryche influences streaming throughout the music. The guitars rage withprecision and skill on this release. The hooks are very interesting and grab the listeners attention. Once hooked in, the guitar onslaught continues with some excellentchords throughout the music. Piano parts are mixed in to give the music some variety.While most bands cant pull that off X of Eden does it with expertise. Their training inclassical music is very noticable. The fusion of hard rock with classical music makesfor a very satisfying listen. Keyboards make bridging from one track to the next seemalmost seamless. The chops and crunch that guitar fans appreciate is handled verywell by the combination of lead and rhythm guitars. The ability to move at a franticpace and then slow down to almost doomy piano parts and then back up to full steamgets the listener into the music. The band takes creating music as a serious task and does not disappoint. The guitars are backed up by drums that fit very nicely into thescheme of the music. They are not too loud nor do they get pushed into the background. It is rare to find drums that are done well on independent releases butthis release is not an ordinary indie release. Production is well thought out and donewith a lot of care. Piano meshes well with guitar and neither is louder than it shouldbe. Vocals fit well over top of the music and the harmony of the chorus parts arevery satisfying. There is a departure from the power chords to classical vocals andpiano parts. Some may think this is strange and out of place but it fits the mood X of Eden is working up to. The nearest comparison might be Saviour Machine with themood building elements. Vocally both members of the band contribute to the tracks.The trade-off between the vocalists is interesting and their voices compliment eachother very well. Both have the energy to front a metal band. The chorus parts arevery catchy and provide listeners with some memorable listens. Lyrically the bandtalks about Gods grace to man, not following the right path on the journey of life, andhaving courage to stand up to the problems of life. Songs on the album include TheLand Of Fugitiveness,"Would You Care To Argue?",And "New Heavens", Beyond The Gates Of Eden, Courage, Return, Shakespeare, It's Only Sleep, Believe and I Won'tGo Down. X of Eden has here one of the most interesting releses of the year andwith it the talent to make some big noise on the metal scene. Beyond the Gates ofEden is an excellent release and should stand the test of time because of strong song-writing, excellent guitars, big chorus parts and energetic vocals.Fans of melodicmetal will want to get this release and indulge in the good music. Copies of the albumare available at http://www.xofeden.net as well as sound samples. A classic releasefrom a band that shows it is not only interested in writing good Songs but makingmusic that is appealing to all metal fans(http://www.holymetalrob.com/)
