EMPIRES OF EDEN
“Guardians Of Time”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Empires Of Eden are a heavy metal band from Australia founded in 2008 by guitarist Stu Marshall (Death Dealer, Night Legion), the band releasing five albums to date – ‘Songs Of War And Vengeance’ (2009), ‘Reborn In Fire’ (2010), ‘Channelling The Infinite’ (2012), ‘Architect Of Hope’ (2015), and ‘Guardians Of Time’…

…released in 2024 featuring an immense array of guest musicians – please see below for a full list! An incredible line-up I’m sure you’ll agree, and one that wholeheartedly lend their support to a superb album of sensational heavy metal – not to mention the power, symphonic and thrash metal elements too! For fifty one glorious minutes, Empires Of Eden roar through the twelve songs on offer with irresistible elegance and poise, each and every song infectious to the max and highly head bang-able, ‘Guardians Of Time’ one of those albums you’ll want to play over and over again – “to infinity and beyond” as someone once said!

Opening with the one minute instrumental ‘The Dawn March’, the band set a highly charged atmosphere of tension and excitement, ready for the title song ‘Guardians Of Time’ to engulf the aural senses of every single listener around the world! The pace, power and energy propelling ‘Guardians Of Time’ (the song) forward is fucking phenomenal – the level of head bang ability higher than the sky! A sensational opening salvo, Empires Of Eden change gear for ‘When Will It End’, the sound of mid tempo, mid paced heavy, power metal lighting up the air – air where you’ll find the fists of everyone raised high, the incredible swagger of the band mesmerising!

And with an electrifying turn of speed, ‘Mortal Rites’ rockets off at high velocity with immense purpose, the sense of urgency here an all conquering one as the band break every speed limit known to man – and probably a few unknown ones too! ‘Guardians Of Time’ (the album) has made a magnificent entrance onto the worldwide metal stage, the mouths of every listener, fan and follower wide open with stunned amazement at the cyclone of superb heavy metal storming outta the Sydney based outfit! There’s just no stopping the bands flow, ‘The Inner Me’ elevating the album to the realm of symphonic metal, the levels of elegance and majesty shooting through the fucking roof as Empires Of Eden roar through the gears across the chorus break! And let’s be honest here, ‘Guardians Of Time’ (the album) has surged into contention for Album Of The Year – and after only five songs too! I tell ya readers, sometimes you don’t have to listen to an album in its entirety to know it’s gonna be special – ‘When The Beast Comes Out’ returning the all conquering urgency heard earlier. The pace here too is stunning, the band keeping the hammer firmly down hard as ‘When The Beast Comes Out’ rockets by at full throttle!

The foot to the floor mentality of the band is immense, Empires Of Eden pressing the pedal to the metal harder than ever as ‘Arabian Nights’ accelerates away like a Formula One car accelerates off the grid! And ‘Arabian Nights’ is an instrumental too, the band keeping a tight hold on everyone’s attentions for the entire three minute run-time, the level of head bang ability just as high, if not higher than heard, felt and enjoyed everywhere else on the album so far! ‘Stand United’ keeps the throttle wide open, Empires Of Eden changing through the gears to turn ‘Stand United’ into one of those pace changing tempo changing haven’t got a clue in which direction the band are going type of songs that both thrills and excites as the anticipation of the unknown pumps adrenaline faster than a finger snap! Yes readers – a finger snap! And here’s the science behind one, “the middle finger separates from the thumb at a peak acceleration of 1.6 million degrees per second squared”. ‘Guardians Of Time’ (the album) is unstoppable, but then why would you wanna stop something so fucking good! ‘August Burns Red’ burning red hot as the band enter the epic and glory genres of metal, the bombastic oomph flowing outta ‘August Burns Red’ flowing hard and fast just like the water over the Wallaman Falls in Queensland – Empires Of Eden a fabulous force of mother nature themselves!

And as ‘Guardians Of Time’ enters its final furlong, there’s no sign of the incredible intensity going away anytime soon, ‘Baptise This Hell’ pounding the ground hard with a force greater than anything found on Earth – the shockwaves emanated by the band felt around the entire planet! Even here in the UK, although I’m literally on the other side of the world from the Sydney band – that’s almost ten thousand miles away by aeroplane! And with a dramatic, and fairly emphatic change in direction and sound, ‘The Devil’s Only Friend’ enters the fray with an immense Southern rock swagger come blues rock come hard rock come doom metal come heavy metal feel – the mix of a multitude of musical genres a jaw dropping one! The variation on offer throughout ‘The Devil’s Only Friend’ is wide, very wide, and will mesmerise ya all the way from the start to the very last second! And bringing a superb album to a close, there’s an alternative version of the earlier heard song ‘Baptise This Hell’, featuring an array of guest guitarists and singers!

Overall, a sensational album of heavy metal with strong elements of power metal and incredible levels of majesty and elegance.

TRACKLIST

The Dawn March
Guardians Of Time
When Will It End
Mortal Rites
The Inner Me
When The Beast Comes Out
Arabian Nights
Stand United
August Runs Red
Baptise This Hell
The Devil’s Only Friend
Baptise This Hell (alternative version)

Full list of musicians:

Stu Marshall – guitars/bass/drums/orchestral arrangements

Vocals:

Rob Rock (Impellitteri) – ‘Guardians Of Time’
Darren Smith (Jake E. Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel) – ‘When Will It End’
Jonas Heidgert (Dragonland) – ‘Mortal Rites’
David Readman (Black Eye, ex Pink Cream 69) – ‘The Inner Me’
Sean Peck (Cage, Death Dealer, The Three Tremors) – ‘When The Beast Comes Out’
Tony Webster (Archetype) – ‘Stand United’
Louie Gorgievski (Night Legion) – ‘August Burns Red’ and ‘Baptise This Hell’
Jeff Martin (ex Racer X) – ‘The Devil’s Only Friend’
Danny Cecati (Wicked Smile) – ‘Baptise This Hell’ (alternate version)
John “Gio” Cavaliere (Black Majesty) – ‘Baptise This Hell’ (alternate version)
Genevieve Rodda (Temtris) – ‘Baptise This Hell’ (alternate version)

Bass:

John Gallagher (Raven, Helms Deep) – ‘Guardians Of Time’
Mike LePond (Symphony X) – ‘When Will It End’ and ‘The Devil’s Only Friend’

Guitars:

Tony Truglio (ex Liege Lord) – ‘Mortal Rites’
Anthony Fox (Temtris) – ‘Baptise This Hell’ (alternate version
Aaron Adie (Elm Street) – ‘Baptise This Hell’ (alternate version)

Drums:

Clay T. (Arkenstone) – ‘When Will It End’ and ‘The Devil’s Only Friend’

http://empiresofeden.com/
https://www.facebook.com/empiresofeden

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