EDEN. The AOR Band from ITALY.

EDEN

Album to the maximum expression of AOR, from Italy.

By Carlos Zaldivar

EDEN.

So many years of enjoying good music, and it is not for less, the Rock and Metal are just that: BEST MUSIC ON THE WHOLE UNIVERSE. There are untouchable and classic bands as MAIDEN, SABBATH, ZEPPELIN, RUSH, PRIEST and they are “sacred”. They already have a pedestal in the musical paradise.

Other bands that have left their mark and are still leaving it, are JOURNEY, SURVIVOR, EUROPE, TOTO, FOREIGNER that would be as the AOR of yesteryear, because today have arisen bands such as SKAGARAK, HOUSE OF LORDS, RIVERSIDE, EVERGREY, HUIS, KRUK, MAGNUM, TEN, MYSTERY, RPWL and SONUS UMBRA (from Mexico) among others many.

And there are other bands, influenced by those that have seen the light and have grown beneath the feet of the same.

In the recent decades some bands have reached “the top” to stay and others had to go very fast. Bands that remain, they stick to the formula of success with a song and going by this "same" path, leaving aside the innovation, the creativity and the love of music. They spoil!

And after one album, disappear.

Ah! But there are bands that are well built up with musical knowledge, wanting to give battle between the “big bands”, with innovations, creativity music and eager to break buttocks within the scene of Rock and Metal. These bands are very few, and have come to stay. They are bands that have generated new sounds and extraordinary sounds in Rock and Metal. There are genres known as Prog - Metal, Death Metal, Nu - Metal, Hard Rock and mainly the famous AOR, which is exactly that, music for adults. 

And with this not refers to persons of legal age, but that adults "in musical knowledge", which have already passed for listening to classic bands, respect them and now they know and listen of the new AOR bands. Because I have had the pleasure of enjoying as young people between 12 and 18 who have good influences of parents and hear excellent bands.

Of these new bands that have emerged in this decade, there are few that reach the degree qualify as "extraordinary" and much more within the AOR genre, because this genre is pure, fine, with excellent arrangements, harmonies, equalization, direction and production of their material. They sound so much good in the Studio and Live. They are bands that I've found (many have rejected them) and today have been so share them, recommend them and so that they are in this huge list of "Big bands"; such bands as REASON (UK), EQUATOR, DELTA DEEP, DEEP LIMBIC SYSTEM (Mexico), SHOOTING ANGELS (Austria with a Mexican drummer), MORTICIAN (Austria with a Mexican drummer), WAR KABINETT (Mexico), KARNATAKA, ZAPHIRA (Austria with a Mexican drummer), S7N (Mexico) and there are more. Today, there is a band that has grown out of many, from Rome, Italy, and the name is EDEN.

EDEN, Italian band formed by Alessandro Iovannitti: on the Drums, Percussions & Vocals; Paolo Castellani: Keyboards & Vocals; Stefano Mastrangeli: Guitars & Vocals; Patrizio Izzo: in main Vocals; and Giordano Latini: Bass & Vocals.

These Italians are going strong in the AOR scene in many countries, and Mexico is no exception. It is a quintet formed in Rome in 2011, and they have brought us an album developed, produced, edited and released by themselves, which is still more than welcome.

It has a very fresh sound, with guitars that do the same, those “guitar sounds” are heard when they should listen at very high volume and occasionally are heard when they only accompany other instruments or voice. Also the keyboards; they never abuse of the song, they just do their job, they "decorate" sometimes the song and in others they accompany it and in other musical times, stand out as the main instrument. Very fine and well played by Paolo. 

Brutal!

EDEN is the current band that sets a tone for the AOR, the classic sound that repeats song after song and always different sound in each song from the album. Their debut album has an introduction, a pause of a call and eight songs, is how to enjoy superb eight different songs, as if they were from eight different bands and not, are all of EDEN. Note the pleasure with which was the album and also the enormous work of each of its members. Everything indicates that in Italy, as in most countries, should have confidence in these new bands and will bring the "power" and take it to the most remote places on Earth. This goal is also for all of us: their fans.

The disc came to my computer, and like many others it was formed in line to listen to it. When it came his turn, it was a moment full of ecstasy and delight. I had a few months of not hearing an AOR at this level. I think it was with DREADFUL MINDS and REASON recent occasions.

Since the introduction with "Sounds from Eden" captivated me. Then give account you want more turn up the volume and this is already the most. I need more!

Then comes the song "Dreamin'" similarly, picks you up and will not let you go. "Fear Has Gone" it is shocking, has been that most lasted in my cerebral hemispheres, while one is singing it, the other is describing the lyric. "I Know You Know" arrives with a few very powerful drum sounds. Different sound to the two earlier songs.

UF, spectacular! We are going to the other songs.

The turn goes for "My Time", a ballad, with keyboards accompanying on guitar and drums, with that so fine voice of Patrizio. A soft voice that always stands out in first level. Then comes the song "Enemy" with little more than power and an acute voice. "Feel the Fire" is the next and with the same power to continue hitting Italian AOR as it should be.

Fuck! And then comes another huge ballad, direct to the heart. In fact at this moment, as I’m writing these humble words, my romanticism is strong, because matches the lyrics and the song with what I've been living, although far... very close from her (MG). "A Change of Life" is this song, and is the type of ballad that you will never forget, since you hear it for the first time until the day that you grow old and you have Alzheimer's disease. Huge ballad because Patrizio begins with whispers in your ear that bristles your skin and then hits the acute sounds and those painful cries to the veins, so blood run through your entire body and you feel completely, "live". 

Applause to this song!

To finish this masterpiece of AOR, comes an introduction of a cell call after a downpour, and responding to the answering machine, enters the song "Into the Night". Wonderful song to close with a flourish this magnificent album. The bass is noticeable from the beginning and is at full volume, the body feels it.

After this album, what more remains?

That yes, it is highly recommended. Buy it in digitally format at the usual sites; in addition you have to buy it in physical format, because it will never compare the digital version with the pleasure of opening the box, feel the booklet and read the autographs (mine and my cousin Hugo's are in the way), open the disc tray, close it and put the sound at maximum volume to enjoy EDEN until the windows vibrate, and why not?... Break them!

EDEN, from Italy, for the world.