A Livetime in Eden

Edenbridge was a very productive band in the beginning of their career. Between 2000 and 2004 they put out four (!) full-length albums of way above average symphonic power metal. Sandwiched between Aphelion and their masterpiece Shine was this little live album, recorded during the Aphelion tour. The album comes with a decently recorded live DVD as well.

First of all, this kind of lacks the “surplus value” one would expect from a live album. Songs sound almost exactly like their respective studio versions, to the point where one has to wonder how “live” the album really is. Crowd interactions are minimal (the crowd looks bored as hell on the DVD), crowd noises are muted out almost completely and the band never takes advantage of their crowd-pleasing moments (which they have plenty of). It’s also obvious that the band lacks a good frontman – Sabine Edelsbacher is a fine vocalist, but her stage presence isn’t very impressive and her cute speaking voice isn't exactly made for fronting a metal band.

Despite these considerable flaws, A Livetime in Eden deserves a good rating thanks to the tracklist. Edenbridge wrote a lot of great songs on their first three albums and most of them appear on this live album. Sunrise in Eden, Cheyenne Spirit, Holy Fire, Arcana...some of their best songs are found here, and the less spectacular songs are still good.

This album was a bit tough to rate. It is a live album, and as such it’s dragged down considerably by the flaws mentioned in the second paragraph. As a Best Of compilation, however, it’s great and deserves a 80+ rating. This might be a good introduction to the band, although their actual Best Of, The Chronicles of Eden is probably an even better choice if that’s what you’re looking for.