yes, those facial piercings are actually glowing...
Influences
Ayreon, Symphony X, Angra, Jorn Lande, Savatage, Black Sabbath, Grim reaper, Iron Maiden, Helloween, Yngwie Malmsteen, Loudness, Judas priest, Manowar, Vicious Rumors ,Stryper, Avantasia and many many more..
Sounds Like
Helloween, Iron Maiden, Chris Impelliteri, Racer X, Arch Enemy, Dio era Sabbath, Judas priest, Gammaray, Silent force, Primal fear
Empires of Eden represents a powerful voice in aggressive contemporary power metal. With a list of collaborators spanning several countries and a wide range of musical disciplines, this studio project is a veritable dream team of uncompromising artists cooperating in a framework which allows them to bring their finest talents to the table.
While Empires of Eden has been created as a labour of passion by virtuoso Stu Marshall – of Paindivision and Dungeon fame - the central philosophy is to give all the musicians as much freedom as they need to produce the best work they are able to. Drawing on influences as diverse as Helloween, Gammaray, Iron Maiden through to Cacophony and Arch Enemy, “Empires’” is a no compromise shred laden adventure that will excite guitarheads and metalfans alike.
Marshall leads an all-star cast of players, singers and writers who over the years have proven themselves to be some of the most exciting performers in metal today. Empires of Eden showcases three of metals finest voices, in vocalist Mike Zoias –a powerful operatic force who can combine the classic, finely crafted tones with a fire rarely experienced in metal vocalists today - Louie Gorgievski, who’s firebreathing style combines a unique power and brings a passionate Dickinson-style vocals to the project. Louie is current vocalist with the band Crimsonfire and has proven he is a must hear voice for all fans of high powered vocals. Completing the vocal talent is Chris Ninni. Chris is one of the surprise stars of the melodic metal scene, sounding like a hybrid of “John Farnham / Joe Lynn Turner”, Chris’ incredible range and power have added a pure melodic touch to “Empires” and is sure to showcase Chris as one of the finest rock voices on the scene today.
While the initial framework for the songs have been created by Marshall, all singers have been instrumental in creating their own lyrics and melodies. This provides a wide range of flavours to Empires of Eden and again highlights the collaborative spirit that the project is built upon. Marshall has contacted many of his friends and respected musicians to add their magic to the recording.
Under other circumstances, such an ambitious allocation of free reign might result in a directionless melee of self indulgence. However when taking into account the specific individuals chosen by Marshall to cooperate in this project, it's immediately clear that they share a disciplined and visionary approach that drives them towards the same goal. Strong, soaring melodies and well crafted chorus’ reign supreme through everything that Empires of Eden is.
Direct quote from Bruce Dickinson - "Some classic sounding metal with some very nice guitar playing there!" - Featured in December!
86 out of 100
Fitting title this, as the debut CD from Aussie metallers Empires Of Eden is uncompromising in their sonic attack of the senses, brutal on the ears and filled with double kick-drum madness. In other words, it's pretty damn good.
The vocals and overall style have to compare to Iron Maiden, Impellitteri, Rob Rock and those from the old school metal sound.
No sign of any trendy nu-metal here, there is a lot to like here for metal fans.
'Stu Marshall shreds like a demon, it works well and makes use of a 30-piece orchestra that fills out the sound, traditional metal fare for those who enjoy the likes of Impellitteri' - Powerplay Magazine.
"listeners won’t regret the chosen path created by Marshall with a heavy rhythm guitar sound and perfectly played solos. and none of them are boring like on much other albums I’ve listened to!
There’s something else that must be said: for those of us who like guitar solos this is a must. Musically it all fits in fine and it is a pleasure for the metal ears.
Try to keep the wine glasses whole during Empires of Eden, you won’t succeed! Also the pounding drums that escort the guitar solos on the progmetal song Dark Religion are astonishing.
Overall this album is a recognizable feast for every heavy metal fan!
Score 13 out of 13!
What do you get if you mix the raw metal attitude of Iron Maiden with the intricate guitar shredding of Dragonforce? I’ll tell you what - a powerful rock explosion so mind-blowing that it’ll leave you reeling.
"I have found a band that is very much in the minority - not only has ingenuity been achieved, but surpassed! And the name of this magnificent creation, these Gods of Rock, you may be asking yourself...? - Empires of Eden.
The album bursts into life with an opening track of pure, intricate guitar shredding that sent shivers up my spine. As the album goes on, the vocals soar, the drums crash and the bassline thunders, add to this the dark presence of the orchestra that is understated but vital to the overall effect, what can I say except "wow"! Prepare to have your socks well and truly rocked off!
I really am struggling to find even a tiny criticism of this album, every track has its own unique appeal which makes you powerless to resist listening to it from start to finish. This will be extremely attractive to listeners who want more out of their musical experience than just a monotonous melodic punch in the chops
This band is destined to be international superstars!
An excellent album full of energy. Great writing, powerfull stuff. Listen deeper to hear even more going on with this album.
Top draw guitar that is pitched to perfection, nothing overblown in the solos. Spot on
When news about Stu Marshall's latest venture reached me, I was
immediately interested.
The fact that the music, would in part,
consist of material written during his time in Dungeon (but never
used) made waiting for Empires Of Eden all the more exciting. Armed
with three well known Australian vocalists and a bevy of
Australian/Japanese instrumentalists, Empires Of Eden lives up to
all my expectations and delivers a collection of songs that fans of
melodic power metal will quickly embrace.
With fiery guitars solos,
passionate vocals and hooks, hooks, hooks, "Songs Of War And
Vengeance" will soon became a fast favourite on the International
heavy metal scene.
Simon Lukic
Musically Incorrect
EMPIRES OF EDEN: Songs of War and Vengeance
Rating: 8.9
Apart from the occasional release from people like Chris Brooks, Australia has been virtually unchartered territory for the shred album. This latest project from Paindivision's Stu Marshall goes some way to address the deficit, with what can only be described as a spectacular display of fretboard histrionics from some excellent metal guitarists.
To bring this vision to life, Marshall has gathered around him a virtual army of the region's metal talent that provides some truly jaw-dropping moments on a pretty well-rounded album of heavy melodic metal infused with immense amounts of wrist-breaking lead guitar playing.
It isn't just the shred that makes Songs of War and Vengeance a good album however, because as Marshall has shown before, he understands the craft of songwriting too.
"our first encounter with EMPIRES OF EDEN is a very positive one!.
Because of the use of different singers the album is pretty divers, which is a bonus!!! Also nice is “Black endings / Echoes of oblivion" which is some kind of ‘spoken word’ and very very good!
Very well done and very nicely worked out project if you ask me! And I really hope that this project will have a continuation somewhere in the near future! Before we go, 2 nice quotes from the cd booklet: “Made by and for metal fans only and the best one ‘this may be music to some, but it’s religion to us’! We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!
- 8.9 / 10
EMPIRES OF EDEN is a new band that was formed in late 2008 and within a very short period (a few months), they have already released a stunning debut album titled ‘Songs of war and vengeance’.
EMPIRES OF EDEN is the brainchild of ex-DUNGEON guitarist STU MARSHALL and of course DUNGEON was one of the finest Melodic Metalbands ever to emerge from down under, so with his new band EMPIRES OF EDEN all hope was there for a sensational debut. Happily that has happened, because the 11 included tracks are presenting us really high quality Melodic Metal. Highlights are “New hope” (a great uptempo melodic Power Metal tune), “Empires of Eden” (very good uptempo Melodic Hardrock a la EDEN’S CURSE/FIFTH ANGEL, RAIL, pure 80s), “The reckoning” (a wonderful ballad) and “Dark religion” (excellent melodic progmetal).
The final 2 songs, “Black endings - Echoes of Oblivion” (features only a speaking voice) and “Scars of innocence - Orchestral” (calm ballad) end the CD quite calm and unexpectedly, but all together this first EMPIRES OF EDEN CD is a very impressive Melodic Metal album
www.myspace.com/thefalloutmagazine
EMPIRES OF EDEN - Songs of War and Vengeance (Activist music - Australia)
Even before I received a promo copy of an album from Stu Marshall's latest
project Empires of Eden, I knew that this was going to be something very
special.
Stu Marshall from Paindivision (and also former Dungeon
guitarist) has teamed up with a bunch of local and overseas musicians as
well as Crimsonfire's Louie Gorgievski, Mike Zoias from Transcending
Mortality, and Chris Ninni fronting what looks to be a very promising
melodic/power metal project.
From the get-go of opening track "New Hope",
the album delivers such a powerful sound that'll captivate the listener
with the catchy guitar work of Marshall and the masterful vocals of
Gorgievski.
An amazing album from beginning to end, "Songs of War
and Vengeance" from Empires of Eden is one of those metal albums that
deliver a killer track after another, and just by listening to it you can
hear all the hard work and dedication that's gone into the creation of
this album.
An essential item for all lovers of melodic metal!
Really what can you say about Stu Marshall‘s project EMPIRES OF EDEN, except what a release!
Throughout this entire release you will hear some of the best guitarists ever, putting Yngwie and others in a second class category.
I mean off-the-hook with volatile slashing to torrid screaming. Louie Gorgievski also handles track two, “Empires of Eden”, that has catchy hooks and the vocals are a bit more in the MAIDEN style and Mr. Marshall has a tinge of Mr. Van Halen added on this one.
Oh man! Check the vocals of Mike Zoias (ex-TRANSCENDING MORTALITY) on “The Reckoning” a little deeper more in a heavy progressive mode; this guy has pipes that are possessive.
The guitarists are amazing and all the vocalists are simply outstanding.
What a find!! Glad I came accross your page. Absolutely amazing music. Very cool with 3 vocalists, gives a very unique experience. I look forward to listening to the full album when it arrives Have a great Xmas & All the best for 2010 Cheers
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