A View From The Back Of The Room: Eden's Curse

Eden’s Curse, Fuel Rock Club

I’d been looking forward to this gig for a while, after the hugely well attended gigs we’d been to on the weekend it was nice to back to the smaller more ‘local’ shows. Having said that upon arriving just before the support I was a little disheartened to see just how few people were at the gig, especially because Eden’s Curse are currently on tour with Michael Schenker. This was a one off headline show on that tour before they made their way up to Prestatyn for Hard Rock Hell, support came from Traitor’s Gate (6) who we’d seen the previous month supporting Diamond Head and the set was pretty much the same just on a smaller stage, although this time there was not a lyric sheet to be seen. Playing to a few people has to be disheartening for many bands so kudos for them for putting in the effort but I’m just still not too fussed on Traitor’s Gate’s middle of the road NWOBHM on stage.

Next up were multi-national melodic metal band Eden’s Curse (8) who are a slick professional unit with years of experience on the stage, on record and in the case of bass player Paul Logue behind the producer’s chair. The band is currently touring their Testament record which showcases the best songs from both eras of Eden’s Curse with Michael Eden and Nikola Mijić behind the mic. When you listen to the album you can hear that the style doesn’t change much between the two singers only that AOR elements creep in with Mijić as the prog touches fade out. Coming onto the stage with their big backdrops they did seem a little cramped with keyboardist Christian "Chrism" Pulkkinen relegated to by the stage door, however it’s his table full of tech that allows Eden’s Curse to get that studio sound in the live arena, it means there’s big (taped) backing vocals and a well rounded sound bolstered by the use of an extensive sound desk!

The performance was more static than normal as the conditions of the venue wouldn’t allow much room to move but there was enough movement and passion from the band to keep the visual interest especially Nikola who’s voice is perfect. Guitarist Thorsten Köhne, takes a solitary position for most of the set but shreds with ease peeling off solos during every track. A brief mention to for John Clelland (drums) who brings the thump with Logue live. The set was basically the first disc of their new record in full and I believe in order (though I’d have to check), it was a good plan as essentially playing a ‘greatest hits’ meant that most knew at least a few of the songs. Now this is where I got a little annoyed, with the show, the crowd was small with even Nikola commenting (I mean they are used to playing to bigger crowds with Schenker) and for such a small crowd many of the ‘hardcore’ that is folks with Eden’s Curse t-shirts stood and talked through the first four songs with it being the most notable on ballad Turn The Page, although when I can hear the guys in front of me during a rocker like The Great Pretender then it strikes me that they might be at the wrong gig. I know we speak about this a lot but we’re all huge music fans here and it’s a collective pet hate of ours about ignorant people talking so loudly you can’t hear the band, especially at intimate gigs.

I could go on but I won’t only to say that Eden’s Curse got better as the night wore on with Kane’d co-vocalist Stacey taking the roles of Liv Kristine and Pamela Moore on Unconditional and Angels And Demons respectively, she unsurprisingly got the biggest cheer of the night (mainly due to half of Kane’d being in attendance) but for the most part this was brilliant set let down by a miserable Wednesday night crowd. Eden’s Curse are coming back next year and playing bigger venues in the Spring, go and check them out then as they are still one of the best and often overlooked bands in the scene.