Blackened Heart is the debut 5 track EP release from Melbourne Heavy Metal band Back To Eden, a collaboration between songwriter/guitarist Edan Hoy and vocalist Aliz Kasim. The EP kicks off in tough fashion with the brutish rock groove of Temptation, rhythm guitars laying down a solid feel with the drums and providing the perfect foundation for vocalist Aliz Kasim to deliver a snarling performance with great feel and soaring range and a vocal tone reminiscent of Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine. The track is a great opener and definite high point of this release.
Track 2 Twin Flame brings to mind 80’s Motley Crue, a sweet up-tempo rock groove punctuated by steady kicks, definite energy from this track from the start to finish and perfectly positioned in the track line-up to keep the feel moving.
Illusion has a solid stop-start groove from the opening with a very thick rhythm tone and pinches harmonics to good effect. The 1:07 mark of the track brings the chorus and one of the strongest hooks of the album.
Title track Blackened Heart provides a soulful power ballad that displays the range of Back To Eden and the band deserves credit for going down this path especially at this early stage of their development. The track showcases some fantastic heartfelt vocals and the typical massive rhythm guitar tones abundant on this release. At 3:50 the vocals hit an incredible pitch leading into a very tasteful guitar solo, Edan Hoy proving to be a player in full command of his playing. At the 5:20 mark, the track moves into another melodic change and if there is any criticism of the release it could be argued that they have ‘overcooked’ the track at this point as it continues on to an almost 7 minutes run time. From an arrangement perspective finding a more graceful exit at an earlier point could have made the track a little stronger.
The final track on the album Devil In Disguise provides a welcome change-up in tempo and a fantastic vocal delivery from Aliz Kasim and some interesting vocal harmonies that are reminiscent of KISS in the 90s. One of the more technical guitar solos adds to the track followed by grinding verses into a solid half-time chorus.
The closing instrumental section provides a technical high-point of Blackened Heart and overall it is another competent track and a very solid closer for the release.
The production of Blackened Heart is very tight and clean across all instruments though the sound and level of the kick drum in the mix is a bit over the top, with a little too much click and not enough warmth it does get a little tiring over the duration of the EP. The drums sound like a drum machine and while this adds to the cleanness of a very tight mix and performance, the addition of a drummer would add further groove and dynamic to an already very rocking outfit.
On the guitar front Edan Hoy provides a classy and restrained performance on lead and rhythm throughout. His rock solid rhythm work providing the foundation of the very tight and consistent groove of this release and his tastefully restrained guitar solos add the required flair to top things off.
The rhythm guitar tone reveals a player who knows his gear and how to get great guitar tones in the modern digital studio, something that is not always easily achieved.
The vocals of Aliz Kasim are very well performed, with solid power and good pitch delivering a professional performance throughout with a massive vocal range from snarling lows to ear-splitting highs.
Back To Eden – Blackened Heart does not score a lot of points on the originality front, sounding like a cut and paste of the works of bands such as Motley Crue, W.A.S.P. later Alice Cooper and other classic metal of the 80’s/90’s era, but when it is produced and performed at this level it doesn’t really matter. If anything the band needs to work on a little more variation of tempos and to find more of their own style that does not lean so heavily on their obvious influences. In saying that, the sound and style that they are going for is not built on experimental sounds and song structures but the tried and true mechanics of the Classic Heavy Metal and Power Metal genres. In this way Back To Eden have succeeded in producing a world-class EP release with no obvious flaws, all the more impressive for a debut release and I look forward to a full-length album from the band.
Back To Edan: Facebook
Release Year: 2018
Label: Hellfire Records
Category: EP
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Jimmy LaCobra
