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Going by the name and album art, and even after the first couple of tracks on their new album, Symphony of Sin, Eden's Curse gives the appearance a melodic Power Metal band from the Edguy/Labyrinth/Mob Rules school. High-pitched vocals, melodic keyboards, crunchy riffs and double-kick drums are all present in copious amounts. Eden's Curse veers off that beaten track in their songwriting, which has quite a lot in common with some of the more commercial stuff that came out of the United States back in the 80s. I'm talking about bands like Dokken, Night Ranger, Cinderella and even, considering the vocal lines on songs like "Rock Bottom," Survivor, known for their huge hit "Eye of the Tiger." There is a bluesy approach to a lot of the song structures that is much more in line with the U.S. sound and "happy" anthems like "Unbreakable" would have garnered the coveted "heavy rotation" on MTV if it had been release in the 1987 instead of 2013. This is the kind of song you used to introduce your girlfriend to your music when you first started going together and were hoping she wouldn't find the Iron Maiden tape under the car seat quite yet. Other songs, like "Break the Silence" and "Devil in Disguise," with their up-tempo pacing and keyboard solos let you know Eden's Curse is still, at heart, a European band.

I love European Power Metal so some of Symphony of Sin is right up my alley. I also desperately tried to escape the prepackaged commerciality of "Glam" or "Hair" Metal with imports and independent releases back in the day. As a result, much of Symphony of Sin is just the kind of stuff I've been trying to get away from for the last 30 years. I'm not going to slag this album because the music is well played, well written ("Unbreakable" may be commercial, but I've still been singing it over the last week or so, dammit) and it sounds great. What I will say is fans of either crunchy or melodic European Power Metal are going to run across this album in their travels and to simply be aware of what is contained therein. If you don't mind a bit of commercial slickness and arena-Metal balladry, this will probably work for you. If you don't, you'll want to move on almost immediately.