Images of Eden (review by MMB)

Images of Eden

Soulrise

label: Pavement Entertainment

release date: 17 August 2018

According to Metal Archives, the first Images of Eden album is from 2001, and it was a solo project in which Gordon Tittsworth sang, played guitar, bass and keyboards, with a session drummer. Now in 2018 this is the fourth album, and in the span of two decades a lot has changed. He has done several albums with other projects and bands while keeping Images of Eden going. In addition, Images of Eden nowadays is a band, not a solo project. In fact, the band has been doing some shows recently and seem to be planning more.

As to the new album, it is the work of mature musicians. The grey hair on some of the members is a good sign of the grown-up music of the album, with lyrics about problems of everyday life and spirituality. The album sounds good and shows that they made a great effort to give people a good, current recording. The audiences for the band may come from people who really love and are devoted to mature bands like Evergrey, Redemption, Queensrÿche, Dream Theater and the like, as long as the followers of those bands are on the lookout for new names to bring into big umbrella of those sounds.

The music is mostly midtempo and slower songs in which the singing is the centerpiece, and the guitars provide the chugging crunch and melodic hooks. Given that the voice is so central here, it is important to hear it for oneself and see how the tone of the voice affects the senses. Much care has been taken for the singing to be good on the recording. The style is a melodic crooning associated with this style, especially in the older stages of the age of the bands that play this style.

Overall, the album is a strong presentation of the powers of Images of Eden. It is certainly worth the time of the dedicated fans of the genre who should try to find the time to hear the complete album to let it sit a while in the mind and see what comes from spending time with this American band.

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