End of Eden
Encyclopedia
End of Eden is the third studio album by Amberian Dawn
, and the first released on Spinefarm Records
, previous albums having been released on KHY Suomen Musiikki. The album was released on October 20, 2010, but was preceded by its online single Arctica
on August 23.
tour with Epica
and Sons of Seasons
. On November 23, the official website announced that main composer Tuomas had many new songs finished for a third album, to be released in 2010, and that lyricist Heidi Parviainen had started writing the new lyrics. The recordings started in late 2009 with drums, and were finished within a half year.
On July 12, 2010, Amberian Dawn officially announced that the next album would be called End of Eden, and that it would be released on October 20 of the same year. They also reported having signed with Spinefarm Records
. The album title was thought up relatively late in the process, when all music was finished and the lyrics were on the way, alongside the album art inspired by the name and concept.
On July 18 the band announced on their website that the upcoming album was to be called End of Eden, and on August 23, they announced the cover art and tracklist. At the same time they released an online single, Arctica
, for download on MySpace
and Spotify
.
The album was released on October 20, alongside the music video of the lead single Arctica
.
The album have several much longer tracks than previous Amberian Dawn albums, including Ghostly Echoes at 5:44 and War in Heaven at 7:24, as well as having more complex song structures. Composer and keyboardist Tuomas Seppälä
has commented that "I just wanted to try something different and quite boldly experimented with different kind of musical styles. Those styles are not new to me, but i haven't composed this kind of stuff to AD before. I'm planning to continue this kind of experiments in the future also and will definitely do some even more shocking stuff for AD in the future."
One song on the album, "Virvatulen Laulu", is both written entirely in Finnish
and in a classical
style rather than the band's otherwise heavy metal
approach. Seppälä comments, "I wanted to experiment more on this album, and the result include "Virvatulen Laulu" which is a classical piece".
Seppälä has called "War in Heaven", the final song on the album, "a very slow, dark and heavy piece of music and it's definitely not a typical AD song. I just wanted to compose a song to AD in a feeling of 80's heavy metal i like so much." Alongside "Talisman" and "City of Corruption", he calls it his favorite off the album.
The song "Ghostly Echoes" is a remake of the song "World of Insanity" by Atheme One, a band which featured founding Amberian Dawn members Tuomas Seppälä
, Tommi Kuri, Heikki Saari
and Tom Sagar. The song appeared on the band's demo, which had a limited release in 2006 and was later sold through Amberian Dawn's forum and Facebook group in December 2010.
, but this was denied by composer Tuomas Seppälä
in an October 2010 interview, in which he said that "despite there's many song names that are somehow religion related, this is not a concept album". He also commented on the colour change from earlier album (blue to red) was a reflection of the developing music, and felt natural.
Other than the songs related to religion there are many stories related to Finnish mythology
and the Kalevala
, including "Sampo" which refers to a magical artifact
, and "Field of Serpents" which references a story in which Ilmarinen got a task to plow a field of serpents before he could marry one of Louhi's daughters.
One song is Amberian Dawn's first not written in English but in Finnish, "Virvatulen Laulu", which translates to "Song of Friar's Lantern". Lyricist Heidi Parviainen
has said about the song, "Virvatulen laulu is a sad love story of a man and a friar´s lantern - a light that shines upon a pond in the night. And because the friar´s lantern disappears when the morning comes they can only meet when the night is dark. They sing together their sad lovesong."
One of the Japanese bonus tracks share its title with Amberian Dawn's second album The Clouds of Northland Thunder
.
, it is a quite minimal step in the right direction. The French
webzine Rock'n'France called the album "an epic and mystical call, like an ode to a pagan prayer in a church built by lakes and forests", and went on to praise especially its overall atmosphere, saying that "if the legends like the movies were accompanied by a soundtrack, it would be [Amberian Dawn's] music you heard at dawn from the deep woods around a fire".
Metal Sickness on the other hand called the album averaged, praising some sections of composition, including solos and Heidi Parviainen
's vocal quality, but complaining on certain tracks lacking any real interest, including "Ghostly Echoes" and "Field of Serpents". The Finnish opera
piece "Virvatulen Laulu", was also complained upon. HeavyLaw accused the band of repetition and self-plagiarism, especially in songs such as "Talisman", "Come Now Follow", and the lead single "Arctica
", but also praised reneweal in songs such as "Sampo" and "Field of Serpents", and believed that the album's best tracks (including "Viratulen Laulu") also were the best of Amberian Dawn, opposite to the album's worst being their worst overall.
an and one Japan
ese. The European version ends with "War in Heaven", while the Japanese version continues with two bonus tracks - and extended version of "Sampo" and an outro
song called "The Clouds of Northland Thunder".
"Tailsman", "Come Now Follow", "Arctica", "Ghostly Echoes", "Sampo", "Blackbird", "Field Of Serpents", and "City Of Corruption" are featured as downloadable songs on the Rock Band Network.
Amberian Dawn
Amberian Dawn is a Finnish symphonic power metal band, formed in 2006 by Tuomas Seppälä and Tommi Kuri. Their third album End of Eden was released on Spinefarm Records in October 2010.-Atheme One :...
, and the first released on Spinefarm Records
Spinefarm Records
Spinefarm Records is a Finland-based record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. In 1999, a sub-label titled Spikefarm Records was started by Sami Tenetz from Thy Serpent...
, previous albums having been released on KHY Suomen Musiikki. The album was released on October 20, 2010, but was preceded by its online single Arctica
Arctica (song)
"Arctica" is a song of Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn's third studio album End of Eden, and the first single from the album. The song was released for free download on MySpace on August 23, 2010, and a music video produced for the song was released on October 20 through YouTube...
on August 23.
Background
In November 2009, Amberian Dawn settled back in Finland after their The Clouds of Northland ThunderThe Clouds of Northland Thunder
The Clouds of Northland Thunder is the second full-length studio album by Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn. It was released May 13, 2009...
tour with Epica
Epica (band)
Epica is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded by guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen subsequent to his departure from After Forever. They are known for their symphonic sound and the use of female vocals and male growls performed by Simone Simons and Mark Jansen, respectively. All six members write...
and Sons of Seasons
Sons of Seasons
Sons of Seasons is a German symphonic metal band formed by Kamelot keyboardist Oliver Palotai. Their debut album Gods of Vermin was released in 2009, and their second album Magnisphyricon was released on April 1, 2011....
. On November 23, the official website announced that main composer Tuomas had many new songs finished for a third album, to be released in 2010, and that lyricist Heidi Parviainen had started writing the new lyrics. The recordings started in late 2009 with drums, and were finished within a half year.
On July 12, 2010, Amberian Dawn officially announced that the next album would be called End of Eden, and that it would be released on October 20 of the same year. They also reported having signed with Spinefarm Records
Spinefarm Records
Spinefarm Records is a Finland-based record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. In 1999, a sub-label titled Spikefarm Records was started by Sami Tenetz from Thy Serpent...
. The album title was thought up relatively late in the process, when all music was finished and the lyrics were on the way, alongside the album art inspired by the name and concept.
On July 18 the band announced on their website that the upcoming album was to be called End of Eden, and on August 23, they announced the cover art and tracklist. At the same time they released an online single, Arctica
Arctica (song)
"Arctica" is a song of Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn's third studio album End of Eden, and the first single from the album. The song was released for free download on MySpace on August 23, 2010, and a music video produced for the song was released on October 20 through YouTube...
, for download on MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
and Spotify
Spotify
Spotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had...
.
The album was released on October 20, alongside the music video of the lead single Arctica
Arctica (song)
"Arctica" is a song of Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn's third studio album End of Eden, and the first single from the album. The song was released for free download on MySpace on August 23, 2010, and a music video produced for the song was released on October 20 through YouTube...
.
Musical style
The album was early reported to be "more diverse, faster and darker than [...] previous albums" and to have "a bigger, more polymorphic sound". The music site Necroweb points out in a review that many songs have a much more melancholic approach than on earlier albums, especially in "War in Heaven" and "Come Now Follow".The album have several much longer tracks than previous Amberian Dawn albums, including Ghostly Echoes at 5:44 and War in Heaven at 7:24, as well as having more complex song structures. Composer and keyboardist Tuomas Seppälä
Tuomas Seppälä
Tuomas Seppälä is a Finnish guitarist, keyboardist and composer, best known as a founding member and main composer of the Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn...
has commented that "I just wanted to try something different and quite boldly experimented with different kind of musical styles. Those styles are not new to me, but i haven't composed this kind of stuff to AD before. I'm planning to continue this kind of experiments in the future also and will definitely do some even more shocking stuff for AD in the future."
One song on the album, "Virvatulen Laulu", is both written entirely in Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
and in a classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
style rather than the band's otherwise heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
approach. Seppälä comments, "I wanted to experiment more on this album, and the result include "Virvatulen Laulu" which is a classical piece".
Seppälä has called "War in Heaven", the final song on the album, "a very slow, dark and heavy piece of music and it's definitely not a typical AD song. I just wanted to compose a song to AD in a feeling of 80's heavy metal i like so much." Alongside "Talisman" and "City of Corruption", he calls it his favorite off the album.
The song "Ghostly Echoes" is a remake of the song "World of Insanity" by Atheme One, a band which featured founding Amberian Dawn members Tuomas Seppälä
Tuomas Seppälä
Tuomas Seppälä is a Finnish guitarist, keyboardist and composer, best known as a founding member and main composer of the Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn...
, Tommi Kuri, Heikki Saari
Heikki Saari
Heikki Saari is the current drummer for the Finnish bands Norther, Tuoni , Naildown, Amberian Dawn and Force Majeure.-Personal information:*Date of Birth: 8 September, 1984*From: Hyvinkää, Finland...
and Tom Sagar. The song appeared on the band's demo, which had a limited release in 2006 and was later sold through Amberian Dawn's forum and Facebook group in December 2010.
Lyrical themes
Speculations quickly arose after the tracklist and cover art reveal whether End of Eden was to be a concept albumConcept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
, but this was denied by composer Tuomas Seppälä
Tuomas Seppälä
Tuomas Seppälä is a Finnish guitarist, keyboardist and composer, best known as a founding member and main composer of the Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn...
in an October 2010 interview, in which he said that "despite there's many song names that are somehow religion related, this is not a concept album". He also commented on the colour change from earlier album (blue to red) was a reflection of the developing music, and felt natural.
Other than the songs related to religion there are many stories related to Finnish mythology
Finnish mythology
Finnish mythology is the mythology that went with Finnish paganism which was practised by the Finnish people prior to Christianisation. It has many features shared with fellow Finnic Estonian mythology and its non-Finnic neighbours, the Balts and the Scandinavians...
and the Kalevala
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
, including "Sampo" which refers to a magical artifact
Sampo
In Finnish mythology, the Sampo or Sammas was a magical artifact of indeterminate type constructed by Ilmarinen that brought good fortune to its holder...
, and "Field of Serpents" which references a story in which Ilmarinen got a task to plow a field of serpents before he could marry one of Louhi's daughters.
One song is Amberian Dawn's first not written in English but in Finnish, "Virvatulen Laulu", which translates to "Song of Friar's Lantern". Lyricist Heidi Parviainen
Heidi Parviainen
Heidi Parviainen is a Finnish soprano singer, best known as the lead singer of the symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn since 2006...
has said about the song, "Virvatulen laulu is a sad love story of a man and a friar´s lantern - a light that shines upon a pond in the night. And because the friar´s lantern disappears when the morning comes they can only meet when the night is dark. They sing together their sad lovesong."
One of the Japanese bonus tracks share its title with Amberian Dawn's second album The Clouds of Northland Thunder
The Clouds of Northland Thunder
The Clouds of Northland Thunder is the second full-length studio album by Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn. It was released May 13, 2009...
.
Reception
Necroweb gave the album 9.5 stars out of 10, praising the band's ability to "combine a certain melancholy mood with fast melodies", but also noted that while the band has evolved from The Clouds of Northland ThunderThe Clouds of Northland Thunder
The Clouds of Northland Thunder is the second full-length studio album by Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn. It was released May 13, 2009...
, it is a quite minimal step in the right direction. The French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
webzine Rock'n'France called the album "an epic and mystical call, like an ode to a pagan prayer in a church built by lakes and forests", and went on to praise especially its overall atmosphere, saying that "if the legends like the movies were accompanied by a soundtrack, it would be [Amberian Dawn's] music you heard at dawn from the deep woods around a fire".
Metal Sickness on the other hand called the album averaged, praising some sections of composition, including solos and Heidi Parviainen
Heidi Parviainen
Heidi Parviainen is a Finnish soprano singer, best known as the lead singer of the symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn since 2006...
's vocal quality, but complaining on certain tracks lacking any real interest, including "Ghostly Echoes" and "Field of Serpents". The Finnish opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
piece "Virvatulen Laulu", was also complained upon. HeavyLaw accused the band of repetition and self-plagiarism, especially in songs such as "Talisman", "Come Now Follow", and the lead single "Arctica
Arctica (song)
"Arctica" is a song of Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn's third studio album End of Eden, and the first single from the album. The song was released for free download on MySpace on August 23, 2010, and a music video produced for the song was released on October 20 through YouTube...
", but also praised reneweal in songs such as "Sampo" and "Field of Serpents", and believed that the album's best tracks (including "Viratulen Laulu") also were the best of Amberian Dawn, opposite to the album's worst being their worst overall.
Track listing
The album has been released in two versions, one EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an and one Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese. The European version ends with "War in Heaven", while the Japanese version continues with two bonus tracks - and extended version of "Sampo" and an outro
Conclusion (music)
In music, the conclusion is the ending of a composition and may take the form of a coda or outro.Pieces using sonata form typically use the recapitulation to conclude a piece, providing closure through the repetition of thematic material from the exposition in the tonic key...
song called "The Clouds of Northland Thunder".
"Tailsman", "Come Now Follow", "Arctica", "Ghostly Echoes", "Sampo", "Blackbird", "Field Of Serpents", and "City Of Corruption" are featured as downloadable songs on the Rock Band Network.
Band members
- Heidi ParviainenHeidi ParviainenHeidi Parviainen is a Finnish soprano singer, best known as the lead singer of the symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn since 2006...
– vocals - Tuomas SeppäläTuomas SeppäläTuomas Seppälä is a Finnish guitarist, keyboardist and composer, best known as a founding member and main composer of the Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn...
– keyboards and guitar - Kasperi HeikkinenKasperi HeikkinenKasperi Heikkinen is a guitar player who is best known as a member of Finnish symphonic power metal band Amberian Dawn. He is also the guitarist for Finnish Metal bands Merging Flare as well as Guardians of Mankind which is a Gamma Ray tribute band...
– guitar - Emil Pohjalainen – guitar
- Tommi Kuri – bass
- Joonas Pykälä-Aho – drums
Guests
- Jens JohanssonJens JohanssonJens Ola Johansson is a Swedish power metal keyboardist and pianist. He is notable for his high-speed neoclassical and fusion style.-Biography:...
(keyboard solo) - Markus Nieminen (operatic male vocals)
- Peter James Goodman (male vocals)