Customer Reviews

Solitaire

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Solitaire has some good tracks; I'd put the top three as the title track, Higher, and Skyline's End. Beyond that, several of the songs feel like they're trying to be interesting but just not quite succeeding. My Earth Dream, the previous album, was spectacular, and Edenbridge understandably had a difficult time reaching the high standard they had set with that album. Lyrically, Solitaire is still interesting, but musically it is just a little boring at times. It's not a bad album, and fans of Edenbridge will probably enjoy it, but I would say it is a step below My Earth Dream. All in all, I recommend it to fans of Edenbridge, as it has some stand out tracks, but people new to the band may get a better introduction to them by starting with My Earth Dream or even Grand Design.

Led by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lanvall and featuring the vocal talents of the lovely Sabine Edelsbacher, Austria's Edenbridge is one of the most talented and accomplished bands in the crowded female-fronted metal scene. Edenbridge distinguished themselves from the pack by opting for a bombastic, decidedly un-gothic sound and a non-operatic vocal approach, and cemented their reputation by releasing a series of very high quality albums. Solitaire is their seventh studio album.

Everything about this album screams high class and quality. Lanvall is an accomplished musician, and he really shines here, particularly on keyboards. His symphonic arrangements and general songwriting skills are first rate. The production of the album is also impeccable. Lanvall took the lead, with assistance from Dennis Ward (of Pink Cream 69), who also provides backing vocals, and Karl Groom (of Threshold), who assisted with mixing the album. And of course there's Sabine Edelsbacher's vocal performance. She is one of the best, if not the best, female vocalists in metal, and she sounds incredible on Solitaire, showing great range, depth and emotion on every song. And she's gorgeous, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the album, but is still true.

Back to Solitaire; this is your typical Edenbridge album. It's a soaring, majestic, melodic affair that's still very much a real metal album. That's worth mentioning when you consider how rarely albums by bands like Delain, Leaves Eyes and the like sound like metal albums at all. There are some great heavy rhythms here, which provide a metallic punch to Sabine's angelic vocals and Lanvall's symphonic arrangements. The album's highlights are the title track, "Come Undone" (which would make a great single), and the epic "Brothers Diamir," though aside from the instrumental intro and outro, all of the songs on Solitaire are fairly strong,

So what's the problem? Well, the problem is that we've already heard this album a half dozen times. There really isn't anything on Solitaire that you wouldn't have found a decade ago on Sunrise in Eden. For some fans, this will no doubt be a good thing. If you love Edenbridge's formula and aren't looking for any variation, then you will probably love Solitaire. If, however, you expect to see bands grow and challenge themselves and their listeners, you won't find much of that here.

I am a newcomer to Edenbridge. At first I wasn't sure what to think of them. They are an interesting blend between a melodic metal, and a thrash-metal band, as best I can describe them. They have a lot of interesting sounds, you can never pin them down I guess that is why some reviewers are disappointed that they don't sound anything like they did on another album of theirs.

I don't like all of the songs on this album, and I don't think they will stick with you for a long time. But despite that, there are some really amazing songs. A couple of my favorites are "Out of This World" and "Further Afield".

"Out of This World" I think is an example of how petulant and transient their style is, not even seeming to be homogenous within the same song. A part of me wishes they made this song more cohesive, but it is supposed to be "Out of This World", so I guess you can't expect it to fit some mold like that.

"Further Afield" is a song so far-reaching in vision and technical talent that I think that is their main achievement on this album. Sometimes to relax I try to play along on my guitar to some metal bands' CDs, not exactly what they play, but just notes in the same key. Well, when I had this CD in, "Further Afield" seems to be such a conundrum that I cannot even pin it down in one key, it is all over the place, but somehow it still sounds good. Really the kind of song that makes you wonder it is so complex and inspired. If you like female fronted metal, you might like it!


"Solitaire" really isn't that bad either, and I think that is one of the songs that will stick with you the most from this album, besides maybe "Higher".

Oh, and I almost forgot, the intro & exit are actually really cool, although perhaps too epic to put on your regular playlist unless your life is really awesome =). Would make good soundtrack in a movie or something though.

Overall, some great songs. 4 stars, docking one since not all the songs will stick with you, and the production quality feels like it could have been slightly better for the vocals at certain times, though I can't quite put my finger on what it is that's not quite right there.

I bought Edenbridge's latest album sight unseen (or "sound unheard," as it may be), simply based on the strength of their previous albums. I was NOT disappointed. Indeed, after repeated spins, I'm convinced that Solitaire is the finest album Edenbridge has produced thus far. The songs are enormously rich and complex, and the vocals of Sabine Edelsbacher continue to soar.

Normally, when I review a symphonic metal album like this, I'll list the tracks that I believe are of "5-star" quality. I'm not going to here, simply because there are too many. Instead, I'll simply note that even in this crowded field of excellent songs, "Further Afield" stands out, and "Skyline's End" is an utter masterpiece, worthy of comparison to My Earth Dream's "Shadowplay" and Shine's "Wild Chase".

Solitaire is an album that belongs in the collection of any female-fronted symphonic metal fan. Highly recommended.

I am new to Edenbridge's music, so was quite surprised by the music I am hearing. Let me state first that I have never heard any other CD by them. Not even a sample of a song before I bought this CD. I only sampled the song Solitaire before purchasing the CD. That said, I have been a so-so follower of symphonic metal over the years. I think I cheated myself of a great type of music. I thoroughly enjoyed this CD. Edenbridge now have my undevoted attention. While the first and last songs are a somewhat repeat of each other, the other songs stand out in quality. I watched the video to Higher and was pleasantly surprised by how the song was visualized. In my opinion, there are no bad songs on this CD. In fact, for right now it has a permanent spot in my play list. I am now going to get the other Edenbridge CDs so I can compare the music. I have told all of my friends about Edenbridge so that they too, can get in on the good music.

I'm sorry, Edenbridge, but I wasn't impressed -in fact, I was pretty downright disappointed. As a relative newcomer to the band, I feel in love with My Earth Dream and didn't look back. Sure, I checked out Shine, Aphelia, Sunrise in Eden and other previous albums, but none of them came anywhere near the power, passion and pure genius that is My Earth Dream. That album was the highlight of Edenbridge's career thus far, and it looked like they were only headed forward.

But not so with Solitaire. While I was hoping for something that would be the next step after My Earth Dream -something that built off that awesome and expanded it -but Solitaire didn't really do that. Rather than channeling the same raw intensity, Solitaire sounds more like the albums Shine and Aphelia -older albums that didn't quite have the same punch as My Earth Dream. While some fans of the band may embrace this retreat, I thought it was more of a backpedal than anything.

The only stand out track here (and the one that spawned the first, though cheesy, Edenbridge music video) is definitely "Higher," which features epic guitar riffs, soaring vocals and strong, positive themes that get listeners pumped- I just wish the rest of the album was more like it. There's also the instrumental "Entree Unique" and "Exit Unique," which are essentially the same song. While I love the concept of it, it's pretty annoying that each track is essentially a loop of the same few bars for four minutes or so -would have been great to see more of an expansion on the song. As for the rest of the album -basically nothing new here, if you've heard Shine or Aphelia, you've pretty much heard Solitaire.

Sorry guys, but this one is relegated to the bottom of my symphonic metal stack -and probably won't make it to the playlist very often.