By John Bedard
First impressions are probably the most important. They can be the difference between getting a job or not, whether you get that girl’s number or not, among many other things. A bad first impression can mean you have to fight to rebuild your standing if you are even given the chance and a good first impression can forgive minor mistakes you make in the future. Rarely though is a fantastic first impression only the start of the good that is to come. Burn Down Eden starts with a fantastic first impression and only gets better from there.
It is pretty well known that mixing acoustic instruments into metal gets my attention. Burn Down Eden opens with an acoustic guitar then transitions wonderfully into a brutally heavy melodic death metal album. They lean heavily into the more melodic side of the genre without ever losing the aggression throughout. There is a ton of evolution in every track making everything feel very complete and the whole experience very rewarding for the listener. None of the transitions feel forced at any point. Everything is well thought out and well-executed without feeling overproduced. It still has that raw honesty to the music.
Lyrically, things are much the same. The tone is that aggressive scream/growl that you would expect from death metal. While there is not quite as much range as the instrumentation and it never really softens up to match the occasional acoustic guitar there is still so much evolution show. There is never a point where I felt like the tone was getting old rather I thought it was well done how they used the vocals to both complement and at times contrast what the instrumentation was doing. It made for a really awesome experience.
If it sounds like I’m gushing it is because I am. Circling back to first impressions, opening my email, and seeing a name like Burn Down Eden immediately my first thought was that the name was badass, then the album artwork is, again, badass, then I hit play and hear the acoustic guitar evolve into one of the best melodic death metal albums I have heard in a long time. The first impressions were good but then every moment things only get better. This is a must-have album. Your collection is absolutely lacking without it. Burn Down Eden had created a masterpiece here.
- ‘Burn Down Eden’ is out now. You can get your copy, and loads of other goodies, HERE.
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