Arcana

Only one year after releasing their debut album, Austrian symphonic metal band Edenbridge drop their sophomore record Arcana, again via Massacre Records. The line-up is unchanged, safe for the addition of a second guitar player, Andreas Eibler, who is credited for both lead and rhythm guitar on the album, same as Edenbridge’s mastermind and sole songwriter Lanvall. Singer Sabine Edelsbacher is the band’s other driving force, with her powerful yet richly melodious vocals which are among the best you can find in this genre of metal. The line-up is completed by Kurt Bednarsky (bass) and Roland Navratil (drums), who together form a competent if fairly inconspicuous rhythm duo.

Arcana follows closely in the footsteps of its predecessor and successfully rights many of the missteps of that album. The music you’ll find on Arcana strikes a remarkable balance between a flurry of different genres of metal and hard rock. Power metal, melodic hard rock, AOR, symphonic metal, neoclassical metal, hints of folk rock and prog rock – all these styles find a home in the album’s 10 songs, ensuring that Edenbridge’s brand of symphonic metal remains distinct from the two main undercurrents of the genre – its gothic, beauty-and-the-beast strand (Theatre of Tragedy; Tristania) and the power metal strain (Nightwish). Edenbridge sit considerably closer to the latter variety of symphonic metal than the former, but nevertheless retain a considerable degree of originality that places them in a camp of their own and closer to artists like prog rock singer Lana Lane than the aforementioned Nightwish.

There are essentially four types of songs on this record: long, multi-part “progressive” epics; fast, short power metal pieces; more melodic hard rock / AOR mid-tempos; and slow, semi-acoustic ballads. Edenbridge deliver in all these different areas, but Lanvall’s songwriting ambitions probably find their best expression in the longer, more proggy songs (“The Palace”, “Arcana”), where he is allowed to explore the nuances of his musical ideas and let them ebb and flow in the course of a song. “The Palace” is particularly stunning. Everything falls into place here: the vocal melodies are catchy and memorable, but at the same time do not sound dull or tiresome. The interplay between keyboard arrangements and guitar riffs is spot on and the dynamics are great. “Arcana” is slightly more tedious and the nearly 10 minutes of length do not help making it a fully digestible affair, but it remains nevertheless one of the high points of the record.

The shorter tracks are a bit more hit and miss, as they in fact were on the debut album. The hard rock piece “Into the Light” is by far the best among them, with its folk-infused intro and again a strong vocal melody in the chorus. “Color My Sky” veers more into power metal territory with its fast, aggressive riffs, and is also decent, despite the slightly awkward and messy arrangement in its verse where the stomping orchestral interjections are a tad too overpowering. The other songs are far less impactful, mostly due to slightly dull melodies. The sappy ballads are particularly disappointing, as they were on the debut album.

Despite the uneven quality of its tracklist, Arcana represents a definite step forward for Edenbridge, relative to their previous record. The production, while still a bit rough around the edges, is miles ahead compared to the messy affair of Sunrise in Eden (especially the guitar sound). Sabine’s vocal performance is also better. The quality of her voice is unquestionable. However, on Sunrise in Eden she sounded too restrained and “formal” in her delivery, while her voice is more expressive and charismatic on the new album. I also get the impression that Lanvall is slowly learning how to write for Sabine’s voice, which on Arcana feels better integrated with the musical texture of the songs. The balancing of the different styles is also more accomplished here, which is another testament to Lanvall’s improved composing abilities.

Nevertheless. I am still left with the impression that Edenbridge at this stage of their career were very much “work in progress” – with plenty of ideas and talent, but lacking the experience and skills to properly channel them into fully accomplished compositions. Again, the expression “rough around the edges” comes to mind. But the promise is all there – and a song as spellbinding as “The Palace” is a testament to this. If only Edenbridge could write a whole record of songs of that quality, they could easily outcompete the heavyweights of the genre.

This summer has been a time in which I've bought a lot of albums blindly -- or with as little prior exposure as possible. Some of them have been winners, but others have proven to be a trying experience. Arcana, the 2001 sophomore effort of Austria's Edenbridge falls into the latter category far more than it does the former, which is a shame because it has all the fixings and markers to be something that I would love. I went into this album knowing that Edenbridge is a female-fronted symphonic power metal band that people often compare to Nightwish (whose earlier works I love), and that Arcana was released in a time period that I tend to gravitate towards. Because of this I felt that the six dollars for a well-kept used copy of the digipak edition was not only a good investment, but the perfect excuse to jump into this band's discography when I never had the desire to do so before. Well, I was thoroughly proven wrong when the feelings of ambivalence and ennui started setting in within the first ten minutes -- feelings that did not subside by the end of the album's fifty-seven minute run time.

Arcana begins promisingly enough with a short orchestral instrumental that starts low and droney before flourishing and expanding into an entire universe of sounds that feeds into the first full song "Starlight Reverie", which sets the tone for what's to come down the line. For all of my expectations of a Nightwish-esque symphonic/power metal fusion sound, Edenbridge takes to one genre far more than the other. Arcana is more of a proper power metal album with symphonic highlights and additives. Mid-to-fast paced songwriting and the iconic mid-ranged power metal riffs and leads (you know the kind) reign supreme with keyboards, strings and the sharp pecking of harpsichord melodies coming behind to flesh out the sonic world that the band is creating. And though I do to give every band member props, they are definitely a talented bunch of musicians that handle their instruments very well, the man of the hour here is clearly guitarist Lanvall who also was the sole songwriter, wrote the vocal lines and the lyrics, and also produced the album. His writing style is very light and majestic, and it feels like flying...

Let's talk about subjectivity... Okay, no. We're not doing that today. I'll spare you the overly long tangent about discussing the technical and objective merits of a work versus the effect that technicality may have on any given person. Just know that said tangent does in fact exist, and keep in mind that people can like or dislike technically bad or proficient things, respectively, and engage with them just as sincerely. With that in mind, Arcana is a well constructed album with a cool and celestial atmosphere, fronted by a great voice -- and an album that I just don't like. It doesn't stick with me and it doesn't move me. When I listen to it the reactions it elicits vary from "this is decent" to "how much of this album is left?".

I don't know why I feel the way I do; I don't know if it's the genre itself (because I've had similar problems with other well established power metal groups), or if the keys that the songs are written in just don't work for me, but I feel like there's no tension, no urgency, nothing about Arcana demands attention, and it feels like fifty-seven minutes of aimless meandering. Which seems contradictory in and of itself since I said that the composition is objectively good -- which it is -- but something about the song structures don't work for me. High energy riffs will feed into pretty, albeit uneventful, versus which will (depending on the song) flow into a strong pre-chorus that ups the stakes, just to plundered by boring, flaccid choruses that do nothing and go nowhere. The aforementioned album opener "Starlight Reverie" is guilty of this (and that's one of the stronger songs of the album), as is the next song, as is the heavier "Susperia". Luckily this album doesn't dip into actively boring until the last song, the 10-minute long (what's the opposite of epic?) title track.

I would probably give this album a lower score, but the production and mixing on this record is pretty top notch. I will say though that during one of my playthroughs of the album I did find the production of "A Moment in Time" to be very similar to those bloated romantic pop-ballads that seem to be all the rage in Vietnam or Thailand -- you know the ones, they're often played in Asian markets. They're pretty, but they're really not for me, and after that realization I haven't been able to shake the feeling from the rest of the songs either. That's just an observation I made, take it with a grain of salt.

I really wanted to like this album a lot more than I did. I've enjoyed offerings from objectively inferior bands *cough*Visions of Atlantis*cough*, and yet Edenbridge failed to win me over with Arcana. Regardless of how strong I think the songwriting is, I get very little enjoyment out of this record. It's just too plain. Everything from the riffing, the string arrangements, the piano and keyboard parts, to the vocals is exceptionally beautiful but screams (more like speaks clearly with an even tone) bland. It makes no waves and thus there is no satisfaction when the storm has passed. This album seems pretty well received so I wonder what I'm missing, but in my experience this album has proven to be nothing but average, middle of the road power metal.

In the past, I had written off the first batch of releases by Edenbridge as little more than jumpers on the Nightwish train, but after revisiting them recently, I've come to the conclusion that my accusations were essentially dubious. They took the blueprint laid out for them and added their own unique spin on the burgeoning genre and composed some pretty classy material. In fact, I often find myself reaching for these early efforts by the band more so than the most seminal works of Nightwish, not because they are necessarily of a higher plain of craftsmanship (which they aren't really), but simply due to the fact that they feel more pleasing to my ears when I'm in the mood for this sort of thing.

As a sophomore release, Arcana differs from their debut by increasing the pace with more of a power metal influence and also aiming straight for this "celestial" sort of vibe. What I'm getting at is that the entire album has this running theme of flying across the stratosphere under the stars, both lyrically and musically. There's a sort of gravity-defying lightness to the sound, where even the speediest double bass battering tunes evoke an ethereal sense thanks to the combination of soaring melodies, Sabine's crystalline voice and a production that softens the guitars somewhat to mingle with the already spacey keyboards. The result is an atmospheric trip, with the drums providing most of the energy and drive during the heavier numbers. Combine this overall sonic display with lyrics that continuously bring up "flying", "stardust", and "moonlight" to almost absurd levels, and the celestial package is complete.

The instrumentation is technically sound, particularly regarding the guitar pyrotechnics which are intricate but not a full-on display of showboating. The obvious highlight pertaining to this act though is Sabine, a siren who is neither brazenly operatic nor pop-inflected. Her delivery is damn gorgeous though and really shines during the faster numbers, adding a wistful quality to them. When I hear "Starlight Reverie", maybe due to an unfettered horniness while approaching a mid-life crisis combined with past indulgences of hallucinogenics and role playing games in my youth, I can't help but envision a Sabine-voiced winged beauty leading a flock of female pixies to that location pictured on the album's cover sleeve where they can twirl around the pillars and skinny-dip to their hearts' content. Yeah, I have problems.

Diversity between tracks mainly consists of variances of tempo. There are the airy yet propulsive power metal numbers, the mid-paced and often progressive-tinged cuts and a few power ballads. Otherwise, the running concept concerning the lyrics is also emphasized by similarities musically. Some of the melodies, though not regurgitated from track to track, feel familiar in an almost deja-vu sense once the latter portion of the album is reached. In fact, the first time I listened to Arcana, I was digging it yet I found the relative sameness of sound and purpose eventually lull me into dreamland, which probably involved naked chicks with dragonfly wings.

Luckily, persistence gradually paid off, since I actually paid for this thing and wasn't ready to smack myself for wasting yet more money on something that could have gone towards a couple of pitchers of decent beer. With more listens, certain tracks stood out, particularly the bonus cuts, strangely placed within the middle of my version of the CD. One of those, "The Whisper Of The Ages" really hooked me during my second round of listening, brandishing some exotic flair with the melodies and the usage of what sounds like a sitar, as well as some tricky time signatures leading up to the glorious chorus. I didn't doze off during that endeavor, as I had adjusted to the spirited passages and progressions each song had to offer while becoming accustomed to Arcana's overall seraphic resonance.

Only recently though did it strike me that this is probably one of my favorite albums by the band. The motherfucker just clicked when I popped it in after a lengthy hiatus. Maybe it's the free-flying energy combined with my aforementioned issues, but it's the sort of positive reinforcement crack I need once in a while. For someone new to the band, this might not be the best place to start (Shine would probably be my recommendation for newbies), but if you're looking for music to accompany nighttime by the waterfront under a cloudless sky for some odd reason, and possibly consider the notion of flying about with spritely hotties kind of groovy, well, here you go.

It is hard to write a review about an album when it has been surpassed already by latest recordings. In the case of ‘Arcana’ it so happens to be the second female fronted album I purchased after Oceanborn by Nightwish. I became a sucker for this style and I was amazed by Sabine’s vocal skills and the good mood of the album.

Since I have a more objective opinion about these bands nowadays it is easier to relate to the good things of this album and unfortunately, to the bad things as well. The album has an awesome flow an atmosphere, which will be ever improved subsequently. Throughout the album you get this ethereal feeling that you are traveling through space. The nice mood makes you think positively. The guitar solos never bore you. Lanvall is a very good song-writer and he does show off here. The vocal melodies fit Sabine’s voice perfectly. She doesn’t have to reach ultra high pitched vocals, neither has she sung in this operatic style that sometimes (depending on the music and singer) can get to your nerves.

In regards to the bad things there are, indeed some problems: the rhythm parts can become quite repetitive. The album is too extensive, and being this monotonous tone it can become really boring. The rhythm guitar is too in the back ground, too light, so you cannot fully appreciate the punch (later improved in My Earth Dream). The lyrics are so fantasy-space focused that, being the light soft punch of the music, could become somewhat ridiculous. The keyboards in here are overused so again, it overpowers the guitar parts. The drums are still too in the background. They should be more upfront.

In the end my friends, I definitely recommend the album. It has good songs and bad moments, but if you want to taste what the band is all about this is a good place to start. Personally, on ‘Shine’ and ‘My Earth Dream’ the band have reached excellence but it all started around this album (second one so far) where they finally found the niche they were up to. Kudos! Because with this album you captured my attention and I still believe you are one of the best bands of this style!

Edenbridge is, IMO, what nightwish would be if it were in a dream. Edenbridge is extremely melodic, with just the right amount of heavyness.

This album can, without a doubt, contend with the band that has so obviously influenced this band (nightwish, in case you didn't catch that).

Arcana is apriviledged to such gems as "Fly on a Rainbow Dream", "Starlight Reverie", and "Color My Sky", as well as "Susperia" and the title track "Arcana". Never before have i ever heard anything so melodic in my life. The guitars are so mellow and flowing, i did not know what to make of it at first. Sabine's vocals are simply amazing. Her ability to go from a low, semi-operatic note to that siren's high pitch is mind boggling. Andreas also demonstrates a great amount of ability on this album, with basic melodies which fool the listener by becoming complex in a matter of seconds. So good, i can barely even review it.

This album has very little wrong with it, other than a slight hint of repetitivity. For fans of bands such as Power Symphony, Sinergy(Maybe), Nightwish, and Xandria, this band is for you.

Also, i might add, that for those of you who are fans of this band, we should push for Tarja (Of Nightwish) and Sabine to do a duet or something to that effect.