When Eden Burns

I’m going to get straight to the point and say that this is one of the best power metal albums that I have listened to in a long, long time. When Eden Burns is the third studio effort by Swedish power metal band Persuader, and it’s one hell of an album. The music you’ll find here is mostly classic power metal, and that’s a good thing because Persuader do it very, very well. Some of the heavier songs on the album have hints of thrash influences and a few death growls are scattered sparsely throughout the album for effect.

The musicianship on this album is consistently fantastic all the way through. Some highlights include the beautiful acoustic guitar solo in “Judas Immortal”, the outstanding lead guitar work on “Sending You Back”, the melodic guitar solo played over the pounding of frantic drums about two thirds of the way into “When Eden Burns” and the ominous piano during the intro of “Doomsday News”. The guitars sound crisp and melodic but have enough bite to satisfy the listener’s desire to headbang. The drums pound their way through the tracks with ferocity and impressive technicality. The bass isn’t hugely audible, as is common in this genre of music, but it keeps the rhythm very nicely.

Now we get onto the vocals on the album. Jens Carlsson’s voice is absolutely perfectly suited to this kind of epic music. I’ve seen him compared to Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian’s vocalist) a lot but I really don’t think the two singers sound that much alike. That isn’t to say, however, that there aren’t a few moments on When Eden Burns that channel classic Blind Guardian. The final thing I’d like to say is that, although I’m not usually a fan of grunted or screamed vocals, I think they work well on the few occasions they are used here. They add emphasis and contrast and are used sparingly and therefore, for me at least, work better than if they were used more often.

There are 10 songs on this album and I have to say it’s definitely all killer, no filler. The only track that even came close to boring me in the slightest was Zion, an instrumental that is still good, and it's relatively short length of 3:08 keeps it from becoming dull or repetitive. The other 9 tracks contain heavier, fast paced cuts such as album opener “Twisted Eyes” and album closer “Enter Reality”. There's classic power metal numbers like “Sending You Back” or “The Return”. There’s also “Judas Immortal”, which mixes both the aforementioned styles with wonderful results, and the slower, insanely catchy song that is “Doomsday News”. The title track “When Eden Burns” is suitably epic, living up to its name with a wonderfully theatrical chorus.

For me, this album blows any release by better-known bands in the power metal genre like DragonForce or Sabaton. That is in no way intended to be a criticism of either of those bands as I like them both and think they’re both great and have put out some great material over the years. However with When Eden Burns Persuader have managed to release an album that maintains a consistently high level of quality, both in musicianship and songwriting, all the way through; in any genre that is a great achievement, and perhaps even more so when it comes to power metal. All of the songs on this album are expertly written and performed and none of them outstay their welcome despite 7 of them reaching over 5 minutes in length. A standout, at least with regards to songwriting, has to be “Judas Immortal”, which has two choruses (both ridiculously catchy); one chorus repeats twice in the first section of the song, then an acoustic guitar solo comes in, and the other chorus repeats until the fade out after it. It has to be heard to be truly believed and appreciated but rest assured that it’s brilliant.

In conclusion, this is an album that anyone who likes power metal, or even melodic metal, to any degree whatsoever, should listen to at least once. If you can’t take a little bit of over the top drama in your music then this may not be the album for you but I would still recommend you give it a shot, you might be surprised. Well done Persuader, for releasing an album which has truly set the landmark for the quality of classic style power metal.

Recommended tracks to check out: Sending You Back, The Return, Judas Immortal and Doomsday News

Things seem to be rolling nicely for this young Swedish metal band. After a solid debut CD ‘The hunter’ in 2000, Persuader entered themselves in the “Young Metal Gods” competition and ultimately were victorious in their venture. Most importantly, people started to pay attention to this young band and expectations grew for their 2nd CD. Persuader did not disappoint with ‘Evolution purgatory’ in 2004. It was a huge jump from ‘The hunter’ in terms of sound and production. ‘Evolution purgatory’ was an in your face non-stop brutal slice of thrash power metal, which got my #2 spot for the best metal CD of 2004. The band also had a new guitarist for this CD, Emil Norberg (younger brother of Nocturnal Rites’ guitarist Nils Norberg).

Persuader had now gained the attention of the metal public and key metal figures in Europe and soon changed labels from Noise Records to the newly founded Dockyard 1, spearheaded by Iron Savior’s vocalist Piet Sielck. Later, both Norberg and Jens Carlsson (Persuader’s vocalist) were invited to Piet’s new metal venture, Savage Circus and their debut CD ‘Dreamland manor’, which was highly praised. Persuader had also added a 2nd guitarist, Daniel Sundborn to their line-up.

Now this has brought us to Persuader’s 3rd CD, ‘When Eden burns’. The important, make or break 3rd CD, which has seen bands shot into metal stardom or fall from grace. Again, Persuader has not disappointed us, with another brutal dose of bombardic power/thrash metal. Jen’s vocals are again similar to those of Blind Guardian’s vocalist Hansi Kursh, but with much more aggression. His voice changes wonderfully from dark aggression to melodic harmony without missing a beat. The thrash influence is still in their sound, but maybe down a notch from their previous CD.

Persuader are quite a unique and fresh sounding metal band, as they have all these different influences within their sound, and their songwriting is constantly changing. The song structure varies dramatically with every track, which adds to the freshness of this young band. All this in unison with Jen’s aggressive, harsh and also melodic vocals. The production is again top notch from their previous CD, with an overall rawness to it. That also adds to the uniqueness of Persuader. All 3 of their CDs have this raw element to them, which makes them stand out against others. The 2 bands which I can hear similarities to, are early Blind Guardian and another young metal band, Hibria. Hibria play more 80s style heavy metal, but have the same rawness and bombastic edge in the music.

As for the songs on ‘When Eden burns’, they all are very good, and it’s a consistent CD with no fillers whatsoever. The CD has one instrumental track “Zion”. But for me, the standouts would include the great riffs and drum pounding of the title track, the fast and thrashy “Judas immortal”, the brilliant “Doomsday news” and the perfect CD closer, “Enter reality”.

My only gripe (yet it be a small one), which doesn’t affect my opinion of this CD, is the sound of the drums. I feel that it has been tweaked down a little and doesn’t give you the full affect of its thundering, pounding sound. I feel that producer Piet Sielck wanted the guitars and vocals to stand out more over the drumming, which is understandable. The end result matter not as ‘When Eden burns’ is another success for Persuader and another step towards metal stardom.

This young band is on the verge of something great and could lead the way of the new young generation of power metal bands in Europe. I sense that Persuader are on the same path as Edguy, back when they released their first 3 CDs, which shot them into stardom. Persuader’s 4th CD, and the future success of Savage Circus will now be monitored very closely and expectations will be very high.

(Originally written for www.metalcdratings.com) (2006)

When Eden Burns is Persuader's third full-length release. While the previous ones were sporting an old-school thrash-influenced power metal sound, this one strays from their path, and the thrash overtones are substituted by a couple other things, although they're not completely gone.

'You ask me if I have a god complex? Let me tell you something... I am God.'

These words welcome us in the opening track Twisted Eyes. After them starts an assault of blasts and riffs that will leave you stunned and asking yourself 'how is this power metal?!'. As you know, Children of Bodom (and their various clones) try to make faux-melodic death metal, but they've been called on this and baptised as 'power metal with harsh vocals'. Persuader's new album is something completely opposite to that, and I'll make a bold claim now and call them melodic death with only some harsh vocals. Indeed, not only the occasional use of blast beats makes it stand out, but also the nearly Dismember-like buzzsaw guitar tone that is employed throughout the CD, and the use of harsh vocals, which make an appearance in pretty much every song (but they're still outnumbered by cleans, mind you). Another very un-power-metal-like element is the seldom use of double-bass drums, which, truth-be-told, are barely ever used.

Generally, while the songs are still fast-paced (with the exception of Doomsday News and Zion), with onslaughts of riffs and drums, the 'thrashy' 'balls to the wall' approach was ditched, and replaced by a more 'epic' feel. Especially the song 'R.S. Knights' comes to mind (whatever R.S. stands for), where in the chorus Jens Carlsson does an echoing, stellar shriek ('Reaaaaaaching out!') while accompanied by the ravaging riffs. Also, thanks to the downtuned guitars, Jens's soaring, raspy vocals, some well-thought and rare usage of keyboards and the nihilistic lyrics, all songs have a very neat apocalyptic feel. There are the tracks that slap you in the face while yelling 'Where is your God now?!' like The Return and When Eden Burns. Then there's Doomsday News, which has a pretty haunting keyboard tune, and a lot slower pace than the rest of the album that makes you feel like you're the one running through the 'Doomsday's City's' soon-to-be-desolate landscape, and not the singing subject. After Doomsday News comes Zion, which is a slow, soothing instrumental. Well-placed, too, since while Doomsday News 'shows' a wrecked city, Zion places you on a vantage point overlooking it to let you watch an atomic cloud rising from the ruins...

Quite possibly, the only really 'thrashy' track, that has the most in common with Evolution Purgatory is Judas Immortal. It's probably the fastest, and most 'brutal' song on the LP, starting similarly to Twisted Eyes, with a barrage of riffs covered by blasts. The aggressive main riff, ripping into your ears like a paranoid chainsaw goes very well with the psycho lyrics:

The reek of your desecrated corpse
The reek of your soul

No one heard the scream as she was falling
The blade put an end to her voice
Limb by limb I harvested her pure
I tell myself I won't regret it
I'm doing fine
I have the true gift, the sickest of minds

In the middle of the song, there's also a pretty misplaced interlude, where the riffs die off to let a slow and simplistic solo play, but then again, this is a song about pure and utter madness. A song structure that makes no sense only complements it. Judas Immortal ends with an outro that, if you ask me, could last even two more minutes because it sounds like a completely different song, returning to the 'epic' feel of the other tracks. It also kicks ass.

Jens Carlson's clean vocals haven't changed much when compared to the previous releases. He still sounds like a couple hundred times more pissed off Hansi Kursch, although, as I said before, he employs a lot more and better developed harsh vocals than on Evolution Purgatory. In the end of Doomsday News, for instance, he unleashes a shriek so powerful, that it could even rival some of Peter Tägtgren's most creeping out screams.

Now are there any flaws? Heck, to be honest, the only bad thing I could pinpoint when talking about musicianship or the songs themselves is the intro of Enter Reality, which starts with an awkward half minute of insanely distorted keyboard sounds that are just unnecessary. But everything else about the songs is very much perfect. There's nothing that I would change. However, the same can't be said about the production, which at times sounds like the album was recorded in some cellar instead of a professional studio. There are moments where everything is crystal clear and every instrument can be heard with no problems, but then there are some (like a couple of moments in RS Knights) where it's all just mish-mashed smudgy crap on top of one another.

Well, okay, there's one more flaw that I need to mention. The ultimate flaw is that When Eden Burns ends. While it's modestly long, lasting for a whole 50 minutes of 'all killer, no filler', the whole experience is so addictive, that even after a thorough listen, you'll still keep repeating it to get some more of that wonderful chainsaw guitar accompanied by the epic, yet brutal, vocals.
Keep it up, Persuader. You're on your way to becoming a giant of the scene.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to listen to Doomsday News a couple hundred more times.

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: I originally intended to skip any Blind Guardian references for this review but have since come to the inevitable conclusion that doing so is almost impossible when writing about this band. No, Persuader are not a Blind Guardian rip-off. Far from it, actually. Then again, there are so many moments on this record that just flat-out scream Blind Guardian that altogether not mentioning the legendary German speed metallers would be a very daunting task indeed. It’s not that When Eden Burns in its entirety sounds like a lost Blind Guardian album. In fact, there aren’t even any individual songs that sound like complete Blind Guardian worship (with the possible exception of “R.S. Knights,” which would have felt right at home on Imaginations from the Other Side); yet there’s no denying that almost every song contains multiple passages that will have you wonder if you’re not actually listening to some studio leftovers that were written for Imaginations but for some reason didn’t make it on said record. (Just listen to the chorus section in “Twisted Eyes” and you’ll know exactly what I mean.)

Other than certain guitar riffs, leads and huge chorus chants, however, the primary reason for these recurring moments of déjà vu is the voice of singer Jens Carlsson. I hate to say it, but as many reviewers before me have pointed out, there are times when this guy sounds like a Hansi Kürsch clone. Then again, dismissing Carlsson as an – admittedly quite talented – Hansi Kürsch impersonator doesn’t do him justice since his vocals are much more varied than those of his German counterpart: there are instances when he leaves his natural mid-range pitch to employ some fierce shrieking, gruff thrash shouting or even the occasional full-fledged death metal growl. In other words, Carlsson is far from being a one-trick pony, and the same can be said about Persuader in general. The band does a great job of mixing things up not only tempo-wise but also stylistically, switching from fist-pumping power metal to grandiose melodic speed metal, all-out thrash metal (the utterly devastating riff at the beginning of “Twisted Eyes” comes to mind), Gothenburg-tinged melodic death metal (“Judas Immortal”) or even borderline black metal (the blast beats (!) in the title track). But even when Persuader apparently do their best to emulate the (once) mighty Blind Guardian, it’s hard to knock them for it considering the Germans have long abandoned that particular brand of speed/power metal and the Swedes manage to pull it off flawlessly.

In terms of production values, “When Eden Burns” sounds quite raw, which gives this record a pleasantly heavy overall feeling. This is indeed a far cry from certain symphonic “power” metal bands – while Persuader occasionally utilize keyboards/synths, these always stay in the background, adding some nice atmospheric textures without ever becoming overbearing or annoying. On the negative side, there are certain moments on this album when the overall sound could use a little more definition and the production feels a little too unpolished for its own good.

The musicianship, as far as I can tell, is top-notch, although I can’t remark much about the bass player as he seems to do little other than providing this recording with a solid low end. With regard to songwriting, it says a lot about these guys’ overall skill level that despite the relatively wide-ranging stylistic influences, this album never feels like an assortment of individual passages or songs but rather like a perfectly homogeneous effort where everything is blended together seamlessly.

There are obviously very few gripes with “When Eden Burns.” Apart from the minor complaints already mentioned, what’s not to like about Persuader’s latest release? Well, although there aren’t any real duds to be found here, the purely instrumental track “Zion” reeks of filler – it doesn’t go anywhere and rambles on far too long despite the fact that it sorely lacks any particularly rousing moments. Moreover, the album closer “Enter Reality” kicks off with a weird intro featuring white noise and some eerily distorted video game melody that is drawn out way too long and manages to be surprisingly obnoxious for only lasting about a minute or so. Anyhow, as these are about the only chinks in the otherwise shining armor of this very strong album, I can whole-heartedly recommend it to all fans of real power (in capital letters) metal – as well as to fans of the older material of a certain German band which… Er, never mind.

Choicest cuts: Twisted Eyes, Sending You Back, R.S. Knights, When Eden Burns

When Eden Burns is by no means a bad record, I find it to be the weakest release yet. With a grand total of four tracks that are worth repeated listens, this ranks as Persuader's worst, but that's still not saying much. I can draw a really vague parallel to Kiuas here, in that while there are only three classic songs here, the record as a whole is still highly enjoyable.

One of the main points that disappoints me so much is Jens's voice. He's still one of my favorite vocalists ever, but he is noticeably more restrained and less harsh here. I think that's one of the things that set him above the bar for me, it was the fact that he was harsh yet melodic, he was powerful yet clean, he was raspy yet recognizable. He had nearly all of the traits that a perfect power metal vocalist could ever have, and yet here he seems to focus a lot more on melody and a tad less on power, which is clearly a step in the wrong direction. Evolution Purgatory is one of the greatest power metal albums of all time in my eyes, and I think that his exemplary voice was the X factor. Now with all of that said, his performance on When Eden Burns is still exceptional, and those who are new to the band will be just as blown away as I was when I first heard Sanity Soiled, it's just that long time fans may well be let down. There are traces of the former glory to be found in Enter Reality, Slaves of Labour, and Judas Immortal, but for the most part he sounds subdued.

The album itself though, starts off on a staggeringly high note, with Twisted Eyes and Slaves of Labour becoming instant classics with their powerful hooks, strong melodies, and unrelenting power. Upon hearing those, I loved them, but noticed something. The riffs. The riffs themselves seemed weaker and less inspired than the thrashy power metal fury of the first two masterpieces. The speed of Fire at Will, the melody of Masquerade, the intensity of The Hunter, it's all here, but it's kind of like the band is playing it safe. Persuader are no longer pushing the envelope, the riffs seem like they were throwaways from the EP recording session that just didn't make the cut. These are exemplified on tracks like R.S. Knights, Doomsday News, and others. It's almost as if the band is attempting to modernize, become less extreme, and a little easier on the ears to the casual listener. There's no problem with putting an emphasis on melody, but it's a bit of an uncomfortable change from what we all grew to love.

I must say though, that there are two things Persuader did right, and they are the catchy choruses and track seven. Each and every song containing a chorus is anthemic and eargrabbing. Even on subpar tracks like The Return and Doomsday News, I find myself singing along. I believe I claimed that either Gamma Ray or Blind Guardian were the masters of the catchy chorus in the past... I hereby rescind that comment and award it to Persuader.

I shall also make the claim right now, that Judas Immortal is the greatest Persuader song ever written. I thought it'd be impossible to top The Hunter, but I feel they finally outdid themselves with this track. The vocal lines are catchy, the riffs and melodies are well executed and memorable, hell, even the lyrics are somewhat gruesome. I never thought I'd hear the phrase "The reek of your desecrated corpse" coming from these guys. Jens's performance here is the standout of the record as well, shouting his lungs out and providing some genuinely anguished sounding harmonies. A classical guitar solo even graces this track! Persuader really threw in the kitchen sink here, and it actually wound up being the best track they've ever written. The outro is also the highlight of their career. Bizarre considering it's the most melodic thing they've done, but holy HELL did they nail it with this song.

Now, apart from my last raving paragraph, I've dwelled on the negative for a majority of this review, so why the high score? Because frankly, this album is only disappointing in comparison to the first two albums. Even when they are only running at 80% power, they STILL smoke almost all of their contemporaries. So what about the review title? I feel that if they continue in this direction, they will become another faceless, yet really good, Blind Guardian imitator. Enter Reality is great, but it sounds just like something Blind Guardian would've written, not something Persuader would've written. BG has always been an obvious influence on the band, but they've never descended into near worship until the last track on the record. But on the whole, this is top notch power metal worthy of any fan's ears. There are a couple of throwaways, and only four really really good songs, three of which are absolute classics. Check out Twisted Eyes, Slaves of Labour, and Judas Immortal to hear the best. Recommended, but only after the first two in the discography.

Persuader has never been a band that clearly fits into the Power Metal genere. They made two albums, which absolutely kicked ass and here comes their third release - When Eden Burns. As some people already said - that piece gets better and better with each listening to it. When I first heard it - didn't appeal to me. Then, after a second try, the instrumental piece Zion - left in my mind. I decided to give it final chance. And it all rolled after third hearing. This indeed IS the Persuader we all know and love. Maybe with some changes, but it cannot be confused with any other band. I only start wondering if they still fit onto the Power Metal subgenre...

As for the album itself - first of all, we can hear some growling there. Yes - we all know what Jens could do with his vocals and now - he's (or rather his voice is) in the best shape ever. Overally we’re served with some clean and very harsh vocals. Nice mixture. Guitars - great as usual. They keep to their very special Persuaderish voice, so you can't confuse them with any other band. Heavy, melodic, atmospheric, indescribable. You HAVE to hear them to get the idea of their style. It's hard even to compare them with other bands. Finally, in the technical part - drumming. Well, their drummer gets better and better and so - here we've got some extremely catchy and headbanging drumming. Very fast when needed yet can still surprise at some points. Well, maybe after Dreamland Manor, released between their last two albums, I sometimes a bit long for Thomen's mastery (as he can be no longer heard along with Blind Guardian), but you can't have everything. Anyway - also great piece of work here

After listening to When Eden Burns for about 10 or 12 times I can't find any serious drawbacks. You can complain about the synths, that are a bit more hearable throughout the album (though without any overusing), maybe they are not as catchy as on The Hunter or Sanity Soiled and MAYBE intro to the track When Eden Burns sounds almost like the Painkiller, but still every such minor flaw is overwhelmed by their great music art. Highlights? Whole album is a highlight, but personally I'm into: Slaves of Labor (for great drumming bridge and chorus), Judas Immortal (for great lyrics and AWESOME outro) and The return (for overall feeling)

To sum it up - another good album by a great band. For me - they still redefine the meaning of Power Metal from (as some may call it) "sweet shitting-around on guitars with a voice sounding like your pants are too tight" to something that really HAS POWER. Although not perfect a well deserved 90%. Keep up the great work Persuader!

A victim of their own success some may call it. I do. Persuaders two previous releases The Hunter, and Evolution Purgatory were two of the best power metal releases in the past 5 years. Evolution Purgatory was has actually been my favorite power metal release. It was agressive, melodic, melody driven, vocals had a wide range, and needless to say for a power metal metal band, they sure could get a pit going.

Now here sits When Eden Burns. And the only thing I can thing is Savage Circus on this release. Granted Savage Circus's Dreamland Manor was amazing, but this is Persuader, I want that edge, that unique brand of thrashy power metal that made them stand out amongst the horde of mediocre power metal bands. The leads arent as agressive, the bass doesent hit you as hard, the drums are toned down, the only thing that holds up to the previous two releases are the vocals. Just because they arent as harsh as they once were, the music is still top notch, in fact, quite the contrary. The leads bleed melody, the drums keep bass, and the bass still has a mean tone. Just to much along the lines of Savage Circus.

Reguardless When Eden Burns has some very good songs on it. The one that sticks out the most has to be Judas Immortal. This is the kind og song Id find on The Hunter. its a fairly long song at just under 6 minutes, but the way they change the song up constantly is sheer genuis. Its not the same verse, chorus, verse, chous, solo bullshit. They actually change the structure and tone of the song as they change the structure. The solo is actually an acoustic guitar. UNHEARD OF IN METAL! And yet they accomplish this feat with great success. The best part of the song kicks in at 4:35 after a short, but unforgetable bridge. at the 4:35 mark, Persuader does something they havent done in any release. It sounds like a whole new song, the leads, drums, vocals, bass, everything is to be heard and better yet every band member makes their piece catchy as hell, youll listen to the whole song just to hear that brief minute of absolute perfect song writing.

While I was dissapointed a bit because I was expecting them to build on the Evolution Purgatory sound, I cant complain and nor can anyone else on this release. When Eden Burns is still an amazing album and should be considered a top album of 06. For now Ill just sit in my curiosity to see how Savage Circus will sound now that Persuader adopted the sound.

Here it is, finally, the third album by the winners of the ”young metal gods”-competition. After 2004’s masterpiece “Evolution Purgatory” (and of course the Savage Circus-album) my expectations for this one were really high, but somewhere in my mind I felt like that the guys would have a hard time to achieve even better than they did with “EP”, I was right. But don’t think that When Eden Burns is a bad album though, because it’s not, at all. But some minor things has changed since the last album. Jens’ vocals isn’t at all as harsh as on “EP”, he’s now singing in a calmer and more melodic way. His performance is still awesome anyway, but it’s even better when it’s more harsh. Another thing that has changed a bit is the songs, they were – in my opinion – a bit more complex and technical before than they are now, on some song on this album the guys really sounds like their home town-companions Nocturnal Rites (mostly in songs Slaves Of Labour, R.S Knights and Doomsday News). But in overall, Persuader haven’t lost the originality in the songs, and there’s strong songwriting through the whole album, and the performance of the band is awesome and tight-sounding. The great guitar shredding of Emil and Danne + the really great and ripping drumplaying by Efraim, and last but not least the balance, the bass playing by Fredrik. The production by Piet and the guys at Toontrack studios is really neat, especially the drums sounds great, and sounds a lot better in comparison with the drumsound on Evolution Purgatory .

The most of the songs goes in a faster tempo, with 2-tact melodic thrashers like Twisted Eyes, When Eden Burns, Enter Reality. Fast double basses like Enter Reality, Judas Immortal (this one contains some riffs that sounds really IN FLAMES-ish, escpecially the whole intro passage), Sending You Back. And some calmer and heavier songs like Slaves of Labour, R.S Knights, Doomsday news. And also, this time, a instrumental. A atmosperic and in overall a calm creation, it’s OK, but gets a bit boring after some listens.

Persuader has with this album + Evolution Purgatory created two great power/thrash albums, and they are for sure among the best power metal bands these days, and the band is still pretty young so there are (hopefully) many albums more to come. Let’s just hope they will be as good. When Eden Burns is like I said, not as great av EP, but still a good album, and among the best albums released in 2006 so far. And also a little plus in the end, is for the really cool and nice looking cover. Really recommended if you’re into this genre.

3 best songs: Twisted Eyes, When Eden Burns, Judas Immortal

Power metal can either be incredibly bland and generic or absolutely mindblowing. Persuader’s latest effort ‘When Eden Burns’ falls in the latter category. When I shoved this cd into my player I was immediately blown away by the opening song. I was greeted with incredibly melodic yet brutal and heavy riffing, superb vocals and crystal clear production, a great introduction to this Swedish powerhouse indeed.

The album starts out in a strong way with ‘Twisted Eyes’, a song which opens with a vocal line and then immediately blasts away with some great riffs and singing. Further into the track you are presented with some technically impressive guitar solos which are prominent throughout the album. On the tracks that follow bearing names such as ‘Slaves of Labour’, ‘Sending You Back’, ‘Judas Immortal’ and ‘Doomsday News’ the singing gets even more impressive and catchy choruses tempt the listener to shout along feeling the glory of true power metal at it’s best. Sometimes harsh vocals are used but only sporadically. Musically the record feels like a cross between bands like Children of Bodom at the highlight of their career (but without the keyboard soloing) and Blind Guardian. ‘Zion’ starts out with some electronic sampling and then moves forward into a beautiful instrumental song relying heavy on melody. The production of ‘When Eden Burns is crisp overall making it sound very modern yet still remaining heavy, a pleasure for the eardrums.

According to their bio Persuader’s had a rough ride to get where they are now with their old label going defunct and it shows. ‘When Eden Burns’ oozes with strong determination and professional songwriting. The band is not that well known but I have a feeling that this will soon change because with professionally recorded albums like this one they are bound to get the recognition they deserve.

Originally written for http://www.gothtronic.com

Persuader comes back with their 3rd album When Eden Burns. After the strong debut The Hunter, the masterpiece Evolution Purgatory and another brilliant album with side project Savage Circus; expectations were high. Maybe a bit too high because on the first hearing When Eden Burns will be disappointing. It’s Persuader alright, but much slower than the previous album and vocals are also less harsh and closer to the work done with Savage Circus. But after having given it over 10 listens I can honestly say that the album is very good and what I expected from them.

Emil Norberg wrote some awesome riffs, as usual, that are distinct from other bands and really brings Persuader to another level. Nice solos like the ones on The Return or R.S-Knights, even some acoustic work on Judas Immortal will keep the listener interested as will Jens Carlsson’s brilliant performance on vocals, even though less harsh. Juntunen’s drumming is significantly slower on most songs and nowhere near as fast as Thomen Stauch’s work with Savage Circus. His job is, nonetheless, well fulfilled. I may describe the album as having a significant change in sound, but don’t get me wrong, it is still Persuader and Slaves Of Labour and Sending You Back’s styles will confirm any doubts you had.

This is the album that will bring them much more recognition in the metal scene. After two great albums, a third solid record like this shows that Persuader know what they are doing and intend to keep on doing it. This being said, if you do not like the album on first listen, do not dismiss it because it will take a bit of time to grow on you…and it will. This is a 9/10 well deserved. I, personally, love this sound that is so refreshing to my ears and always look forward to hearing something by these young metal gods.

DarkDryad

http://www.mansionofmetal.com