I recall setting this one to the side after a brief listen when the last batch of releases from Willowtip arrived, thinking I just wasn't in the mood for Americanized Swedish melodic death metal (ala THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER) at the time. The style has been beaten bloody and continues to cling to life in a ditch somewhere on the side of the road. Having recently picked up "The Great Celestial...Read More

This is pretty as hell. But it's still a grandma-smasher. Maybe "pretty as hell" is an ideal description. With its intense and withering musical loathing shaped into something that is musical and very much melodic, perhaps this is a sort of diabolical pretty. As Eden Burns offers up death metal wrapped up in melody and it's being blackened around the edges only enhances the personality...Read More

After hitting the melodic death metal jackpot with Arsis’s debut back in 2004, after a small wait, Willotip appear have tried their hand in uncovering another melodeath band in Houston’s As Eden Burns, though it has less spectacular, if solid results. While certainly a busy melodeath metal band similar to Arsis, there’s a lack of totality and cohesion amid the no doubt...Read More

The first thought that occurred to me while listening to this album was just how damn close the band came to nailing the blackened death metal sound of the mid 90's. I was a huge fan of No Fashion Records and the stuff Black Mark was releasing during this time period and As Eden Burns is one of the first bands in a long time to truly match the quality present in that time period. Pre-Slaughter of...Read More