Smoke And Mirroros by The Eden House
1 rating since posting on Friday, September 11, 2009
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Overall Rating  based on 1 rating |
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I found out about this great project a few years ago on Dawnrazor (Fields of The Nephilim) forum back in 2007, and it sounded very impressive indeed from what I heard. I was hoping that the band would eventually put out a studio album in the near future. I remember streaming some songs off their myspace site ages ago and recording the songs to my computer via windows sound recorder, just to keep myself happy until the real thing was released. I'm sure this album far exceeds any other type of female fronted gothic rock/metal albums out there at this time, because of the sheer amount of atmosphere, imagination and ideas that went into this album. The one thing that is very unusual about this album is that there are a lot of different musicians and not just four or five members as in the standard rock line-ups. Some are guests and others are part of the band. There are about five female singers in total, all of whom are real class. Even some of the original members from one of my all time favourite goth rock band Fields of The Nephilim are present here. It's awesome to hear Peter Yates soaring guitars again, Nod Wrights powerful but subtle drumming and of course Tony Pettit who provides those famous rumbling bass lines. The opening song `To Believe in Something' is a real stunner, and one song I won't get bored of for ages. The guitars in this song are amazing, courtesy of the great Peter Yates, and the bass lines are very similar to 'Psychonaut' also by Fields of The Nephilim. The vocals are sung by Monica Richards on `To Believe in Something', and unfortunately this is the only song the she sings on, but she gives it her best performance. The middle part of this song reminded me of 'Sumerland (what dreams may come)'quite a bit. There are a lot of other truly great songs as well like 'All My Love' sung by Julianne Regan from All About Eve who does a fantastic job, and it shows that she still has a great voice too. Other excellent songs include the epic 'Gods Pride' with vocals by Amandine Ferrari, Trashed Treasure, Iron in the Soul (some parts of this song sound a bit like tricky), but they still retain that gothic feel. 'Fire for You is also another nice long epic song with a lot of great parts to it. 'The Beauty of Science, The Dark Half and Sin are also truly truly brilliant as well. The very last song 'Sin' brings back memories of 'Wail of Sumer/And There Will Your Heart Be Also' again by Fields of The Nephilim because it has that same eerie mysterious/evocative/dreamy feel to it. Towards the end of this song the guitars and keys have that same feel/sound at the end of 'Elizium'. So if you are longing to hear a song almost very similar to 'Wail of Sumer/And There Will Your Heart Be Also', 'Sin' should keep you very happy for a long time. Overall it's an excellent album, and one of the very best goth rock albums I've heard this year. The main reason I didn’t give 'Smoke And Mirrors' a ten, is because I was not that mad about 'Reach Out' which seems almost to mellow for my ears. I may need to give that song time, and then I may change my opinion. At the moment I rate 'Smoke And Mirrors' as four and a half stars. This album will have to keep me content until Carl McCoy, NFD and Open Paradise unleash their gothic masterpieces on the world. Here is the track listing and my score for each song: 1. To Believe In Something - 10/10 2. All My Love - 10/10 3. Gods Pride - 10/10 4. Reach Out - 6/10 5. Trashed Treasure - 10/10 6. Iron in The Soul 8.5/10 7. Fire For You - 10/10 8. The Beauty of Science - 10/10 9. The Dark Half - 9.8/10 10. Sin - 10/10 - Mark , posted 09/11/09 |
Smoke And Mirroros by The Eden House was recommended for:
- Tribe: Fields of the Nephilim
