• Artists
  • Releases
  • News
  • Videos
  • Contact
  • About Us
ORDER / LISTEN:
  • Ltd. CD
  • CD
  • Total Metal Shop
  • BandCamp
  • Spotify
  • iTunes
  • Amazon
  • YouTube Music
  • Deezer

Sirens

by EDELLOM

Back

REVIEWS

Metal Revolution

Sirens is a debut full-length studio album by Israeli Blackened Dark/Doom/Gothic metal band Edellom. It’s been released almost two years ago via Metal Scrap Records’ sublabel Another Side Records, and it came as a follow-up to their 2016 Demo release entitled Long Lost Suns.

Sirens tells two different fantastic stories that share the same common ground: a somber, poisonous connection between a man and a woman. Sirens is over an hour long record, containing eight quite lengthy songs. Thus, it’s also an hour long journey of brooding and oppressive Gothic Death/Doom. It is a sonic assault of crushing yet doomy riffs, ultra-low guttural male grunts of Mr. David Nardya, and the haunting, often mid-section, vocals of Maria Raven Burdelov. It’s all spiced up with numerous beautiful melodic leads. Speaking of male vocals again, it’s important to say that these are not only growling and guttural as one can also hear some clean male vocals like in a song called “Torn”.

Despite of its length, Sirens is a very diverse and varied album, with some nice and melodic keys and violins too. This diversity is best exemplified by both slow, long, monolithic passages as well as fast-paced, tremolo guitar riffing passages. This mix of black metal ugliness and melodic and atmospheric gothic/doom metal despair works just nice for this Israeli quartet.

An hour spent with the sound of Edellom went so fast despite of my initial expectations that an hour of this sort of music can be a bit much. In other words, I was entertained from start to finnish! With the release of Sirens, this quartet demonstrates that is possible to create a long yet varied metal album with a modern metal production and gloomy atmosphere.

Esp. recommended for fans of Swallow The Sun, Delain, Shape Of Despair, Paradise Lost, Opeth, Triptikon, Draconian and more… For additional info on this particular release and the band in general go to https://edellom.bandcamp.com/

70/100
Bato

Soilgrinder Zine #7

When you get a cd, album, cassette, whatever floats your boat you will first look at the front and back cover art for a few seconds before tearing into the wrapper. It’s a time honored tradition for any collector to space out on an awesome album cover while engrossed in the music cranking out of the speakers, Israel’s Edellom have fantastic cover (by Khaos Diktator), in which the cd booklet unfolds (in the usual way) to reveal quite the piece of art. A witch dances by campfire light, wearing only a veil. She holds a decapitated head in the air. There are many other things to stare at like demons and what looks like a goat skin folding chair that Satan himself might sit on at a picnic somewhere, Musically, Edellom are en extreme metal and doom band with some killer guttural vocals and screams care of guitarist David Nardya. There is an airy, gothic ora care of Maria Raven falls into the range of dare I say Amy Lee which paired with Nardya’s vocal actually makes me feel like I’m listening to a more evil version of Leave’s Eyes but without the hooks, Super heavy, lurching doom riffs an icy swirling black metal undertones, give way to ultimate slam-style metalcore changes and a growl so low I thought for sure I would hear a vocal cord snap. All of this is well and good, especially if you like bands like Lacuna Coil which utilize the female vocal and you’re fine with the output, regardless of it. However, in my opinion, in extreme metal, a female can have great talent but can’t find the right spot or situation, sometime with awkward results. That being said, I think the crisp, clean recording of Raven’s vocal tracks tends to soften the extremety of the band and whole feel of what they’re doing seems to veer. This also could be intentional targeted at those with this acquired taste. Perhaps bringing those vocals back a bit in the mix would even out the soundscape.

Atmosfear #24

В середине девяностых норвежцы из Театра Трагедии предложили революционную концепцию «красавица и чудовище» где женское сопрано противостояло мужскому гроулингу, а в качестве музыкальной поддержки использовался готический дум металл. Идея прижилась. Сейчас несомненными лидерами в данном стиле является шведская группа Дракониан, но возникает множество коллективов по всему миру, использующих наработки двадцатилетней давности. Не обошло это стороной и Израиль. Там возникла группа EDELLOM и сейчас я имею удовольствие слушать их дебютный альбом. Мощный гитарный звук в стиле готический дум металл и несомненная вокальная концепция «красавица и чудовище» меня без сомнений радуют. Не обошлось и без странных решений, но это нормально для дебютного альбома. Кстати, сравнить музыку израильтян лучше всего с двумя первыми альбомами Дракониан, тогда они звучали жёстче, чем на следующих альбомах. В целом получился успешный дебют.

7/10
Neophyte

Scream Magazine #242

Israel er ikke akkurat assosiert med et blomstrende metalliv. Gothic/black/doom-kvartett. Edellom kommer nettopp derifra. Bandet ble opprinnelig stiftet i 2009 som et soloprosjekt, lagt pa hylla grunnet militaertjeneste for bandets hjerne, for a bli restartet i 2012 som et fullverdig band. I ar var det endelig tid til for israelernes debut, “Sirens”. Albumet drofter en historie om et gifrig forhold mellom en kvinne og en mann og greit nok har vi de to likeverdige vokalistene: David Nardya, som er ansvarlig for growling, og Maria Raven som star for kvinnelig klar vokal. Begge to har gode stemmer, og gjor sin jobb mer enn gobt nok. Dessverre, selv om Nadrayas stemme utfyller materialet pa en veldig fin og ikke minst variert mate, kan man ikke si det samme om Ravens bidrag. Melodiene i hennes vokallinjer er sapass anonyme og kjedelige at de trekker innholdet en del ned, ved a gi det preg av et alminnelig gothic metal band. Dette er synd, fordi denne damen har en god, sterk stemme. Instrumentalt sett stiller kvintetten sterkt med varierte motiver, fra tung, seig tradisjonell doom til vital, dynamisk, overbevisende gjennomfort blackmetal. Med unntak av klarvokal-linjene virker materialet sa godt skrevet at det faktisk fenger pa en eller annen mate. Teknisk sett har heller ikke kvintetten noen ting a skamme seg over. Albumet fremstar som profesjonellt og forseggjort med god lyd og et bra gjennomfort lydbilde. Grei debut, men det gjenstar en del jobb.

3/5
Irmina Lunnoy

Pest Webzine

After a 2016 demo, Long Lost Suns, Israeli quartet Edellom returns with their debut studio album, an 8 tracks effort clocking a full hour of playing time, released via Metal Scrap’s sub-label, Another Side. Although the band and label advertise this as Gothic Doom Metal, to me this is way closer to Funeral Doom and even Depressive Black Metal at times (strange, isn’t it?) that the regular Gothic Doom I was expecting, but to be honest I prefer bands delivering not what’s expected from them, but exactly what they had on their heart when composing the album. Sirens has both slow, long, monolithic passages as well as faster paced, tremolo guitar riffs lead passages, and when it comes to the vocal compartment we get a mix of melodic, enchanting female vocals with ultra-low guttural uncomprehensive male vocals backed by Black Metal shrieks at times. The problem from my point of view is with all those rhythms breaks that somehow swamp the natural flow of the album making it somehow monotonous; at least after a couple of spins I’ve made my mind, the band has the necessary potential to deliver professional, well-thought music with real emotions in it, but they loose themselves in details, in trying to be as diverse and original as they can and that kills it for me, I cannot find something to grab on to in order to make this material memorable, to keep something from it after the audition. Try it yourselves if you think a combination of Funeral Doom, Gothic Metal, and Depressive Black Metal would make your day.

6/10
Adrian

Legacy #124

EDELLOM kommen aus einer Stadt nördlich von Tel Aviv in Israel. Ein konfliktbelastetes Land, ständig am Rande eines Krieges, wo Bombenangriffe beinahe zum öffentlichen Leben dazugehören. Außerdem gilt in Israel allgemeine Wehrpflicht für Männer und Frauen, und so mussten auch Leadsängerin Maria Raven und ihre Hintermänner ihren Dienst leisten. Auf die Lyrics hatte dies jedoch angeblich keinen Einfluss. Ihre Inspiration ziehen EDELLOM aus Folklore, Mythologie und Gothic-Literatur, wobei Letztere für zahlreiche schauderhaft kitschige Releases verantwortlich ist. Dies nicht bei EDELLOM. Nach zehn Jahren Bandgeschichte – zuerst als Solo-Projekt von Gitarrist/Sänger David Nardya – erscheint mit „Sirens“ das erste Album der Truppe und verbreitet pechschwarze, meist zähe Tristesse. Die Musik der Israelis dreht sich um zwei Geschichten zwischen Mann und Frau und wurde korrelierend mit männlichen und weiblichen Vocals umgesetzt. „Sirens“ hat dennoch wenig mit Bubblegum-Symphonic-Metal, dem dazu noch das Stigma „Gothic“ angedichtet wird, zu tun. Das Fundament bildet bei EDELLUM epischer Doom Metal – eher Candlemass, Ahab, Katatonia und Swallow The Sun statt Evanescence und Nightwish. Dazu gibt es immer wieder Fluchten in schwarzmetallische Raserei. „Sirens“ verbreitet Hoffnungslosigkeit, ohne zu jammern oder demonstrativ mit Rasierklingen zu hadern. Das abschließende ‚To Darkness I Fall‘ mit seiner siebeneinhalbminütigen Spielzeit fasst „Sirens“ gut zusammen. Das epische Arrangement mit Melodien zum Niederknien hat gar Anflüge von Metalcore, der die Atmosphäre nicht in Grund und Boden zerbomben kann. „Sirens“ hat eine moderne Produktion, die genügend Dynamik hat, sodass die Musik zu keiner Zeit gekünstelt oder gruselig digital klingt. Ein schönes Werk und absolute Kaufempfehlung für Fans düsterer Klänge.

12/15
LS

Rockcor #1/2020

Хм, вот так израильтяне, никогда бы не подумал, что они смогут выдать нечто подобное. Был немало удивлен при прослушивании. Мне всегда казалось, что подобная тёмная музыка не имеет ничего общего с их региональным фольклором даже в сочетании с такими тяжелыми ответвлениями, как Black, Doom и Gothic metal. Но, тем не менее, исполнители полны энтузиазма, и их подход к указанной музыке довольно ревностный. Местами их творчество очень сильно напоминает Paradise Lost начала и середины 90-х и их коллег по цеху того же периода Anathema. Хочется отметить разнообразную вокальную работу, а именно все эти сочетания красивого женского голоса с различными вариациями грубого и даже порой рычащего мужского. Имеются трогательные гитарные мелодии, структуры песен также неординарны и самобытны. Вроде бы все на месте и в соответствующем духе, но только ужасно все скучно. Да, отличные музыканты, да, необычные и атмосферные аранжировки, да, демонстрация современного металлического производства с мрачной чувственной подачей, но слушается это все в целом довольно напряженно. Периодически хочется взять и просто это выключить. Лишь только из-за какого-то морального и внутреннего уважения к музыкантам слушаешь альбом до конца. Но ведь далеко не все жалуют музыкантов так, как я, верно? Так что кто-то может и не выдержать. Ну, ортодоксальным фэнам Doom/ Death/Black metal данная штука всецело понравится. Хотя много тут имеется и всего этакого фильдеперсового, что в основном не принимают олдскульщики, но всякое же бывает. В общем, сей «брульянт» на редкого любителя, так скажем, ну и для коллекционеров всего подобного материала, коих соберется немало. Так что послушайте, глядишь и приобщитесь, а возможно, и возьмете этих ребят на заметку, все-таки в них что-то есть, и задел на хорошую перспективу, если присмотреться, присутствует.

4/5
Константин Данзигов

Metal Centre

In 2019 Israeli EDELLOM celebrated their tenth anniversary. And I think they sanctified it by releasing their first album…
“Sirens” is material for enthusiasts of atmospheric, heavy and in some meaning even apathetic playing. The music is slow and heavy, like a road roller, crushing everything that comes in its way. However, sometimes there is affective acceleration intensified by the aggression of guitars or growling-scream vocals. Speaking about the vocals… Three types are most often heard. The monstrous death-metal growling, the demonic black-metal scream and the depressing female singing… These vocals perfectly harmonize with the music emphasizing various emotional states, which are usually accompanied by deep feelings of melancholy, anhedonia, aggressive helplessness or also hysterical anger… Of course, the instruments create heavy and monumental guitar riffs, moody keyboard accents and slow funeral tempo with impulsive accelerations…
Here a darkness goes hand in hand with a depression and a melancholy. And an aggression dances with the melody, because there are a lot of gloomy and depressive melodies here, which are accompanied by wild emotional gusts.
Many themes reminded me LEFT HAND SOLUTION, THEATRE OF TRAGEDY, or MY DYING BRIDE…
These types of bands are rare on the metal stage. But what they create totally captivates.

9/10
Pavel

Hated One Metal Reviews

Originating from a place that is not exactly considered a hotbed of metal, Israel’s Edellom have had to work that much harder than most bands just to get their music out there. However, now that Edellom’s debut full-length Sirens is out there, it shouldn’t take long for word to spread about just how good this doom band really is. Dark, gloomy, heavy, and haunting, Sirens is a stellar debut that deserves even more respect than your average metal offering, for if this Middle Eastern quartet can overcome their geographical limitations and release an album that sounds this good, then what’s your excuse, rest of the world?

8.5 / 10

Blackened Death Metal Zine

Edollom are a band from Israel that plays a mixture of black, gothic and doom metal and this is a review of their 2019 album “Sirens” which was released by Another Side Records.
Atmospheric sounding keyboards start off the album which also mixes in with the heavier sections of the music. Elements of doom metal can also be heard in the slower sections of t he songs while the vocals are mostly death metal growls and clean gothic female vocals can also be heard at times.
Whispers are also added into some parts of the recording while the music also mixes in a decent amount of black metal screams. Dark sounding melodies can also be heard in some of the guitar riffing along with the solos and leads being done in a very melodic style and when the music speeds up a decent amount of blast beats can also be heard.
Most of the tracks are very long and epic in length along with some clean playing also being added into certain sections of the recording. The music also adds in a decent amount of 90’s era gothic doom/death metal elements as well as some spoken word parts also being used at times and some tracks also add in a small amount of clean male vocals, all of the musical instruments on the recording also have a very powerful sound to them. The production sounds very professional while the lyrics cover damnation, sorrow and death themes.
In my opinion Edollom are a very great sounding mixture of black, gothic and doom metal and if you are a fan of those musical genres, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE “Presentiment” “The Black Sorceress” and “To Darkness I Fall”.

8/10
OCCULTBLACKMETAL

MORE REVIEWS

https://ontheroadmetal.blogspot.com

http://www.crossfire-metal.de

http://metallian.com

https://www.friedhof-magazine.com

http://rockarollazine.blogspot.com

http://www.metalcentre.pl

http://powermetal.de

http://metalrulez.pl

https://noizzwebzine.blogspot.com

https://vampster.com

Copyright © 2021 Another Side Records. All Rights Reserved.