EDENBRIDGE - The Bonding

The journey started back in 2000 when the band from Austria released their debut album, a release that made quite an impact with the quality of the music, and the exceptional performance of the female vocalist. One of the bigger advantages of the band is Sabine Edelsbacher, whose vocals dominate the whole album once again, but do it in a way that seems natural, and certainly leaves space for all musicians as well. Now, 13 years and 7 albums later, the band comes back with their 8th studio release, that moves on the same style, but finds the band in a more mature and creative phase. Their music is Symphonic Metal, with the Klangvereinigung Orchestra of Vienna giving a hand in the symphonic parts and giving depth to the whole album, with the band adding the necessary Metal cover to the music. And on top of that, comes Sabine with her eerie vocals, and giving the feeling that all music was written specially for her. There's a lot of variety here, from harder songs to ballads, with the band doing a great performance, with almost no weak or indifferent moments. The orchestra is mostly working on the background, but adds some extra complexity to the music, often adding melodies and rhythm that could easily be used as score for a movie. The songs are very good, catchy and melodic from start to finish, and there's no way you won't be enchanted by the vocals, the rhythm, the well worked melodies, or the numerous catchy moments. As I said before, everything seems to move around Sabine and her singing, and this happens for a reason. She performs amazing here, as she did on their previous albums, from slower ballads, to more pompous and bombastic moments that sounds too close to Opera, she does a great job. The rest of band, from the guitars to the rhythm section, all are gifted and talented musicians, but they are somehow under the shadow of Sabine's performance. Listening to it over and over, the past few days, I realized that the vocals have a mesmerizing effect, and made me coming back over and over again, and the same goes with the melodies. If you open your mind no matter what kind of music you like, there's no way you won't be seduced by the performance and the work of this band.