ALBUM REVIEW: Shangri-La – Edenbridge
After the release of 10 full length studio albums, you would assume that EDENBRIDGE have said all they want to say; however you couldn’t be more wrong. With a total of 4.2 million YouTube views on their 2010 track Higher, the Austrian symphonic metal collective have well and truly made a firm dent in the industry since the release of their debut studio album Sunrise In Eden back in 2000. Following on from 2019’s Dynamind, the band are back with a vengeance with their brand new album Shangri-La, which is sure to take us on a rollercoaster ride full of clever musical compositions and outstanding musicianship.
Shangri–La – the band’s 11th release – features a total of nine emotional, hard-hitting tracks. The first track on the album is At First Light, which is instantly impactful. Straight from the get-go, At First Light provides us with a song which is just so stunning instrumentally speaking – we really can’t get enough of it. The orchestral elements progress beautifully throughout, keeping things fresh and new in the process. The Call Of Eden is up next, which is equally as memorable. The melody sounds as though it should be featured in a song from the 80s, with the positive and optimistic nature of the chords throughout.
Hall Of Shame starts off well with a fast-paced symphonic metal style guitar riff before evolving quickly into another melody. When the vocals of Sabine Edelsbacher kick in, you instantly feel at ease. The contrast between her soft, tranquil sounding vocals and the exciting nature of the instrumentals is something to be remembered. Savage Land is on a completely different level, with a gentle, almost calming melody making you feel at peace from start to end. Edelsbacher‘s vocals make the track emotional and moving, even more so with the inclusion of wind instruments in the latter part of the song. Somewhere Else But Here takes us right back to the typical EDENBRIDGE sound. However at this point in the album, the tracks are all starting to sound very similar to one another, which is a little disappointing to say the least. Freedom Is A Roof Made Of Stars treats us to a fantastic opening riff, before leaping into another track that is just like the last. There is nothing particularly special about a lot of these later tracks – they just sound way too identical to our ears.
Arcadia (The Great Escape) is another hard-hitter on this album, making you feel every single word that Edelsbacher is singing. It is such a shame that there is just nothing particularly memorable about this song either. All of the songs seem to be adopting the same vibe, with not much to make them stand out from the crowd. The Road To Shangri-La contains a unique Oriental inspired melody at the beginning, making the track a little more individual. Unfortunately, this song eventually blends in with the rest of the album. The closing track to this release is The Bonding (Pt.2). ECLIPSE‘s Erik Martensson joins Edelsbacher on vocal duty here, making the song sound more full and accomplished as a result. However this track goes on for just over 16 minutes, which is way too long. They could have easily cut the track down to three minutes and created the same emotions.
Considering this is now the 11th body of work from EDENBRIDGE, we really expected to hear something a little more unique and individual. To us, this album just sounds like any other symphonic metal band we have already heard, with not a lot of differentiation between them. It is certainly not the worst record we have ever heard, it’s just not anything special, unfortunately.
Rating: 5/10
Shangri-La is out now via AFM Records.
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