Eden's Curse - London Review

April has already been quite a busy month for gigs. The weekend prior to the one that has just passed I undertook a three-gig weekend - taking in three gigs from three different bands in three different cities. I really enjoy those trips, as tiring as they are, but April had one more treat to offer me before I take a few weeks off to work on, and finish, the final 'regular' assignment of my Masters course. The treat in question was Eden's Curse, a Scottish-based - but truly multi-cultural - melodic metal band who I have been following for a few years now. Regular readers of this blog will have realised by now that I am not content to simply consume the discographies of the 'main' bands of any particular genre. I am a big fan of seeking out the underrated and smaller acts out there, as there are often many gems to be found. Eden's Curse are one such gem, and I believe I began listening to them in either 2013 or 2014. I definitely saw the band on their 2014 tour supporting the Symphony of Sin album, but at the point I was not fully versed in the band's catalogue. I saw the band again a couple of years later, this time supporting Cardinal. Both of the shows were at The Underworld in London, and both were excellent. Some bands I am content to just see the once, but there are many who I will always try and see when they come around. Eden's Curse are now one such band, but sadly I missed out on their tour last year when they supported Michael Schenker. I would had loved to have gone, but the tickets were really too expensive to justify another trip away - especially I had seen Schenker in 2017 for about half the price! This meant missing an Eden's Curse tour, which I was disappointed in, but I knew that I would have to make the effort next time. This meant that when the band's current Testament tour was announced towards the end of last year I immediately purchased a ticket. Testament is the name of a 'best of' album that was released last year, meaning the setlist for this tour was to include songs from the band's entire catalogue, rather than leaning heavily on one particular album. I was looking forward to this more 'general' setlist, and hoped that the band would throw in a few deep cuts along with the usual fan-favourite tracks. I opted again for London, once again at The Underworld, as it made the most logistical sense. The Underworld has grown on me over the years, and now I quite enjoy going there. It is always a good place to take in concerts, which is why I was quite disappointed with the low turnout. There cannot have been many more than a hundred people in attendance, which for a weekend in London is quite poor. I seem to remember the band's 2016 show being a bit sparse too, and it is a shame to see great bands like Eden's Curse struggling to pull healthy crowds in such a big city.

That aside, the evening was great. There were two support acts before Eden's Curse took to the stage, and Degreed from Sweden were up first. Like the rest of the bill, Degreed are a melodic metal act. They seemed to place a lot more emphasis on the keyboards than they do on the guitar, and I do not think that a guitar solo was heard before about the third or fourth song of a half an hour set. Most of the songs featured furious keyboard solos from Micke Jansson (keyboards/vocals) however, which was great to see. Keyboard solos seem to be dying out a little bit in melodic metal, even in bands that have prominent keyboard parts generally, so it was good to see that Degreed are keeping this somewhat rarer art form alive. I liked the band's sound, which was built around tight guitar riffs and excellent keyboard counter-melodies, but I did not really think that the vocal melodies really took hold. Robin Ericsson (vocals/bass guitar) certainly has a great voice, but I felt that the choruses were not anthemic enough. I think Degreed could be a really great band if they focused on really tightening things up from a melodic perspective, as they are all clearly great musicians. They are certainly a band I will keep an eye on however, as I am interested to see how they will develop.

The main support act was Germany's Mob Rules who, despite having been around since the mid-1990s, had never toured the UK before this current outing. While this was Eden's Curse's tour, many of the crowd were clearly Mob Rules fans as well, as the German band received a good reception throughout their 50 minutes on stage and there were quite a few down at the front singing along. I was not really familiar with the band, but enjoyed what I heard. Sadly however, the sound was a bit off throughout Mob Rules' set, with frontman Klaus Dirks' vocals really low in the mix which did hinder their power somewhat. The band soldiered through however, and gave the crowd a nine-song set packed with the band's dense, heavy power metal sound. The two-guitar attack gave the band some real weight, with the keyboards here adding mostly atmosphere rather than any leads. The opening number Ghost of a Chance was a catchy, memorable piece; and an older track called My Kingdom Come also impressed. By this point the small crowd was really into what Mob Rules were doing. Besides the die-hards, the first couple of numbers were greeted with more muted applause, but this soon changed as the band laid out their stall. By the time the closing number, Hollowed be thy Name, came around the whole venue was enjoying the Mob Rules experience. Dirks even managed to whip up a bit of a sing-a-long during this last number, and the band took their bows to loud cheers from those who had showed up. They are certainly a band I will need to make an effort to check out going forward.

When Eden's Curse took to the stage just before 8:30pm, a few more fans suddenly materialised (maybe they had been hiding in the bar?) which bolstered the numbers somewhat, and the atmosphere changed from one of appreciation of the music to one altogether more energetic. Despite their somewhat technical/progressive side, Eden's Curse are much more accessible than many bands of their ilk, with big choruses adorning each song and a very likeable frontman in Nikola Mijić who worked tirelessly throughout their 90 minute set to get the crowd going. Being the Testament tour, the band played the entire main disc of their best of, meaning that songs from all five of their studio albums were played and the crowd got a chance to hear a good representation of their sound. This brings my only quibble I had with the evening as, being a 'best of', Testament is mostly filled with the songs the band would probably play live anyway. As this was a set representing their whole career, it would have been nice to see them pull a couple of deeper cuts out the vaults! Many of the songs played were fan-favourites however, and each went down as well as the last. The longer, somewhat progressive Symphony of Sin got things started, before the heavier Masquerade Ball really hit the spot. It is one of my favourite Eden's Curse songs, so it was good to hear it live again. Mijić sung each song perfectly, including those which were written before he joined the band, and he was ably assisted by bandleader Paul Logue (bass guitar/vocals) and Christian 'Chrism' Pulkkinen (keyboards/vocals) who sung their hearts out throughout to nail those soaring harmonies. Black Widow is always a fun live number, although it is strange to hear the disembodied voice of Helloween's Andi Deris floating out of the speakers, and older numbers like Fly Away and Judgement Day showed that the band have been putting out great tracks since their very first album. A highlight for me was a stunning rendition of No Holy Man, which has a really strong chorus, that came about half way through the set. By this point the band had really hit their stride, and the crowd were lapping up everything that they had to offer. When Thorsten Koehne (guitar) launched into the catchy riff of the poppy single Sell Your Soul the place erupted and, despite the fairly poor turnout, it was clear that the band were having fun. The last portion of the set also brought some highlights, with the newer track Jericho displaying the band's power metal credentials, and Unbreakable showcasing a quirky, Queensrÿche-esque guitar pattern before exploding into an AOR feast with a rousing chorus. Songs like this showcase the band's effortless blend of the technical and the accessible - which is why I am surprised the band has not yet amassed a larger fanbase. Another single in Evil & Divine closed out the main set, but the band was only off the stage for around a minute before the cheers called the back for a couple more. There was a surprise in the encore the form of Forever, the only new track on the Testament compilation, which is a future Eden's Curse classic; before the band were joined on stage by Helen Hurd (who had also taken to the stage earlier for a rendition of Unconditional) for the band's anthem Angels & Demons. This was the song that closed out the night, and the band took their bows to large cheers. The setlist was:

Symphony of Sin

Masquerade Ball

Black Widow

The Great Pretender

Fly Away

No Holy Man

Sell Your Soul

Jerusalem Sleeps

Unconditional [w/ Helen Hurd]

Judgement Day

Jericho

Unbreakable

Evil & Divine

-

Forever

Angels & Demons [w/ Helen Hurd]

Despite a poor turnout, and my quibbles about the setlist aside, this was a great night of melodic metal in London. Eden's Curse are a band that really deserve to be reaching a larger audience by now, but they are a band that I will continue to support as long as they are still touring and releasing new music. I hope the rest of the tour is a success for them, and other cities are kinder with the support than London was!