Edenbridge
My Earth Dream

Edenbridge, with this full-length, have now reached their sixth release. This is since 2000 when they debuted with the good "Sunrise in Eden," an album I quite liked. An album that paid homage to the symphonic Nightwish but at the same time captivated the listener without presenting particularly original elements.

With "My Earth Dream," the band offers us the classic symphonic and epic metal, full of choirs and orchestral accompaniments that would make you tire after a few songs. And so it unfortunately happens.

This is because, while remaining excellent work in its genre, the songs have little to offer or say. And this would be a total flaw if it weren't for some songs featuring elements that manage to "attempt" to make a difference by making Edenbridge's music heavier and grittier. I cite, for example, "Fallen From Grace" or "Shadowplay." Songs that try to take a different path from that followed by the rest of the album but ultimately fail to lift the fortunes of a record that suffers from the diabolical disease of "already heard." Moreover, these same songs, while attempting this new route, fall short and are inevitably supported by the usual symphonic choruses and the cursed keyboards and power metal orchestrations. And this makes me denote a certain insecurity (or fear) of the band. Insecurity/fear in daring, in trying alternative, new solutions that may not appeal to the listener at first but could probably bring a breath of fresh air to the entire album and the band itself.

Listen to "My Earthdream" (a suite of over 12 minutes) where everything happens: more "ferocious" moments dance together with more power-esque episodes and riffs; then, choirs, keyboards, and orchestras. Everything alternates (perfectly) in those long minutes but, the underlying feeling remains one of "emptiness," despite all the songs bordering on compositional and executional perfection. Also, thanks to a polished production.

The final blow is inflicted by the dull and useless ballad full of "choirs and pink ribbons" (Whale Rider), an old-style ballad that, as usual, adds nothing to what we are accustomed to hearing from the band and from all the bands that offer this musical genre. A separate discussion deserves the instrumental at the end, the wonderful "My Earthdreamsuite For Guitar And Orchestra," a bonus track that, perhaps, precisely because of its sweetness and delicacy in sounds and its not wanting to overdo it, remains one of the most successful episodes of the entire platter.

In conclusion, we are not facing a bad record, nor a complete failure. The album is well played, excellently produced, and wonderfully sung (the performance by singer Sabine is marvelous). We are only faced with an album that will make fans of the genre very happy; an album that attempts to surprise listeners with ideas that, for some, may even appear "ingenious" or out of the box (listen to the breaks of "Place Of Higher Power"). An album that, however, does not go beyond sufficiency and relegates the entire band to sufficiency itself, which remains confined in the classic stylistic elements of this genre that still has little to say and offer to its followers and listeners.