Best
know for his work in Artension, Roger Staffelbach has taken
the down time from the prog metal merchants to launch a band in his
own neo-classical/melodic power metal vision called Angel Of Eden.
Joining Staffelbach are the Evidence One duo of vocalist Carsten
“Lizard” Schulz and drummer Rami Ali along with Italian
keyboard virtuoso Mistheria (solo/Bruce Dickinson), quite
simply a collection of some of the hottest metal talent around
today. Completing the band as guests are bassist Steve Digeorgio
(Artension/Testament) along with a few guest spots from Roger’s
fellow Artension mate John West (ex Royal Hunt), Ferdy
Doernberg (Uli Jon Roth, Axel Rudi Pell) on keys and Dave
Sharman (ex Manowar).
The debut album is home to 10 tracks of blistering metal kicking off
with the title track “The End Of Never”, a rampaging slice of
power metal with speedy solos and an unstoppable delivery from the
band. “Dreamchaser” fuses Trilogy era Malmsteen with good
old European power metal which allows Lizard’s vocals to soar, here
guitars and keyboard intertwine to perfection all powered along by a
vicious double bass drum assault from Rami Ali. The track breaks
down in the middle for a riff that would be killer in the live arena
before the tempo picks up again for solo trade off between
Staffelbach and Mistheria in the finest Malmsteen/Johansson
tradition. “Angel Of
Eden”
sees a more melodic frame enter with its slower tempo and here the
relatively simple riff and keyboards work well with each other once
again, this track is surely going to win many friends of early
Malmsteen, yet its not a clone in any sense but has a similar feel.
Solo times sees Roger pull out a sweet classical sounding arpeggio
section which is doubled second time around with a two handed
tapping motif before he really lets fly before heading back to the
strong chorus again which leads into a nice harmonised guitar outro,
a highlight. “Return Of The Pharoah Pt.I” is a nice
neo-classical instrumental and sees David Shankle deliver the first
solo and their a lot going on in this track yet it all works well
together and is a strong instrumental. The epic “The
Battle
Of 1386”
is next and it’s another highlight. Beginning with a dense war
pending style keyboard intro from Mistheria it then moves into a
stomping slow tempo riff reminiscent of “Ride The Lightning”
era Metallica, this sounds phenomenal with the volume up. John West
delivers his trademark vocals here and their slightly darker nature
compared to Schulz contrasts nicely with the rest of the material on
offer. “Into The Black” sees the tempo back up in the higher
registers and this is another stormer moving from a 16th
note pattern to a Maiden-ish gallop for the verses. “Return Of
The Pharoah Pt.II” is a brief instrumental beginning with more
classical orchestration from Mistheria and some nice counterpoint
lines from Staffelbach before the truly glorious “Keys To Avalon”
kicks in with a tremendous mid-tempo groove and a melody so rich
it will be stuck in your head for hours after hearing it. Schulz
pulls off anything he handles but this sort of stuff is his domain
(no pun intended) and he belts them out in glorious fashion, the
guitar and keyboard solo spots are also rather tasty and add to a
superb track. “Stampede” is arguably the fastest track on
the album, and whilst its showcases some awesome double bass work
from Rami Ali its pretty straightforward in its approach and does
lack a little of the class of the other tracks. Yet fans of frantic
guitar/keyboard trade offs will find the solo section a pure
delight. “Towards The Light” closes the album with a
reworking of the track Staffelbach wrote for the Shawn Lane tribute
album on Lion Music, chock full of impassioned fretwork and a nice
closer. But hidden away is a cover of the Yngwie Malmsteen classic
“You Don’t Remember (I’ll Never Forget)” which is a superb
version, slightly beefed up compared to the original but it shows
Schulz handling the original vocals of Mark Boals with ease, in fact
I probably prefer it to the original! The solo sees Roger use the
original as a reference for his own take and this adds more class.
Overall “The End Of Never” is a stunning debut album from a
band which could quite easily go places and there is definite magic
in the song writing duo of Staffelbach and Schulz. Possessing a
rich powerful sound everything is working towards showcasing the
quality of song. There is really nothing to fault here, the band
has their own sound, the performances are exemplary and the core of
Staffelbach, Schulz, Ami and Mistheria have delivered an album which
deserves your money now. Neo-classically tinted album of the year.
Rating
- 97%
Web
Links
www.angelofedenband.com
www.myspace.com/angelofedenband
