After the Michael Eden took his leave from the band a few years ago, EDEN’S CURSE never ceased to create and to find a way to become the next thing in Hard ‘N’ Heavy music. With a new frontman, and the same musical dexterity and dedication resulted by years of experience, EDEN’S CURSE released “Symphony Of Sin“, via AFM Records.
“Symphony of Sin” is out now, tell us about your newest work in your own words?
[blockquote]We are very pleased with it and I know it sounds so cliched, but we really feel this is our best work. The buzz within the band itself has been quite unlike any record we have made before. I think we have grown as a band and we are very comfortable with what we do now. I think the album sounds like classic Eden’s Curse but with an obvious new flavour that no-one has ever tasted before. It’s fresh, it’s vibrant, it’s exciting and it’s 100% us.[/blockquote]
Which songs are you particularly proud of on the new record?
[blockquote]I’m proud of every one of them, but two that spring to mind would be the title track “Symphony Of Sin” because it is such an epic song and the marriage of rock and symphonic music orchestra is always something I wanted to try out. I also composed the orchestral piece in it, so to hear that come back from a professional arranger and orchestra was pretty special indeed. Also I love the track “Unbreakable” because writing it was very cathartic and uplifting during those difficult times. It’s also a bit different for us – it’s very melodic, almost like a pop metal song but with a hint of a Mr. Big added for good measure.[/blockquote]
Nikola Mijic, the new singer, does a great job. How did you find him and can you tell us a bit about him?
[blockquote]Nikola is a young Serbian vocalist who sings with Alogia, in his home country, and also Hungarian band Dreyelands. He also performed vocals on a Prog Rock project called Expedition Delta. When we parted company with Marco we decided to hold some public online auditions, similar to what Dragonforce did, and even though the quality received was very high indeed, we were looking for that certain “je ne sais quoi”. I was researching on the internet through various media streams and I happened to be browsing on the website of Lion Music who have some killer bands. I came across Dreyelands and liked what I heard from their singer. I jumped to Facebook to see if he had a profile and low and behold he did. I reached out to Nikola and invited him to audition, which he did, and the rest they say is history.[/blockquote]
Keyboardist Alessandro Del Vecchio left the band and was replaced by the well-known Steve Williams of Power Quest. Why did Alessandro leave and how did you find Steve and convince him to join the band?
[blockquote]Alessandro’s is a success story to be celebrated as he is now Frontiers Records in-house producer. As he had become so busy with his career as a mixing engineer he said “Guys, You deserve to have someone who can focus all of their time on Eden’s Curse“. In all honesty, we expected it, as we could see it coming and for him, his dreams have come true, so we couldn’t be happier for him. Alessandro was very much loved in the band, and his talent is there for all to see. We wished him all the luck in the world and parted on great terms, and in fact he actually recommended we talk to Steve Williams, as his band Power Quest had just called it a day.
Steve actually auditioned for the band back in 2009 when Ferdy Doernberg left after the second album, and was only beaten by Alessandro and his magnificent voice. We have remained good friends since and have used each other as a sounding board on many musicial matters, as our bands turned in many of the same circles and our relationship grew from there. It was a very natural decision to ask Steve as he is a great player, songwriter and person. Once he heard the new demos it was a no brainer to him and he is has walked in and fit like a glove, because he is so affable and 100% a team player.[/blockquote]
Dennis Ward mixes again. Please share your appreciation regarding his work and what he brings to the Eden’s Curse sound?
[blockquote]Dennis has been with us since the beginning and he knows what works for our music. Sonically his productions just kick you hard in the face and that’s what I love so much. I think he is the number one guy out there for this type of music.[/blockquote]
Again, the artwork by the band is stunning and Thomas Ewerhard is the mastermind once more. Is this a return to the girl from the debut album cover?
[blockquote]Thomas, like Dennis, is amazing at his craft and knows what works for us. He has been “the guy” that has created our visual representation over the years and simply put we love working with him. Yes it Eve! I told the guys in the band that during the making of the album I would become the custodian of all things “Eden’s Curse” and the remit was simple, the album had to look and sound like an Eden’s Curse album. So, in many ways this was why we opted for Eve, because she is synonymous with us, and we felt that the fan base would relate and like the familiarity. Not to mention the fact that she is very pleasant on the eye ;-)[/blockquote]
You released a video for “Evil & Divine“, the first single from the record. It is the best video the band have done to date. Are you happy with the end results?
[blockquote]Delighted! Our Director Ryan Priddy and his team at www.independentelement.co.uk were a joy to work with and highly talented. He deserves to hit the big time as he is fantastic at what he does. It’s a cool mood and story and it’s great to see that Nikola brings more than just his voice to the table – he can act and he is pretty kind on the eye too.[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Michael’s attention suddenly switched from the band and the music to money, for whatever reason. He issued us with a financial demand that simply the band could not meet. He was unwilling to withdraw this request. The band is the collective, always has been, always will be, and when attention shifts from our core function – the music – to money, it was always going to lead to trouble. We are all weekend warriors. We all had day jobs, except Michael. We asked him three times to stay, no-one wanted him to leave, but it took us six hard years to get where we were at that point in our career and no matter how much Michael tried to force the issue, we could not bend, so he quit. Marco is an amazing talent, but unfortunately he wasn’t the right personality for us. We are a tight group with a strong personal bond and we need new band members to fit and integrate into that seamlessley. That did not happen. We tried to make it work and in the end we weren’t happy and neither was he, so we parted company.[/blockquote]
Did you ever think about changing the bands name when Michael left?
[blockquote]Absolutely not! Eden isn’t his real name anyway – it’s Michael Brobeck and he was previously known as Michael St. Allen in an old band. He created his stage name after we gave the band it’s name. When he quit on his own accord the remaining members discussed it for ten seconds … “Do we carry on”? We unanimously agreed that we had come too far and had too much left to say and achieve before throwing in the towel. Us Scot’s are made of stern stuff :-)[/blockquote]
What are your touring plans ?
[blockquote]We are already in discussions with our Management and some booking agents to plan tour dates in the UK and Europe for 2014. We ideally want to do a club headline tour in the UK for sure and will be reaching to the major summer festivals. We can’t wait to get back out on the road with the new material and that is really the big aim this year to get out and play. We want to make an impact on the live scene, and now we are all based in Europe there is no excuse now.[/blockquote]
Is there anything else you’d like to add for your fans?
[blockquote]Thanks to all our fans who stuck by us knowing that one day we would rise again. It has been a difficult couple of years for Eden’s Curse but I can assure you that we are back bigger and better than ever before. We stand here united, together as one, and we are UNBREAKABLE! See you all on the road in 2014 !!! Paul[/blockquote]
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For RockNGrowl.com by Axel