Edenbridge - Shine (2004)

I still find it hard to class Edenbridge as simply heavy metal. Alright, they're not seen as 'simply' heavy metal, as they come into the subgenres "power" and "symphonic" as well. But, even though they have the heavy rhythms, skilful guitar solos and pounding drums of metal, the speed of power (although not a lot here) and gradiose keyboard sounds of symphonic, they (as I've written in the past) have a grace and dignity that make these labels sound insufficient. 
This is the band's fourth album and, like their first three, it takes some work to get into, not because the songs are excessively complex, but the melodies and song structures are such that they don't leap out at the listener, and yet remain memorable and captivating. Lanvall, the writer and multi-instrumentalist, must be one of the most underrated metal perfomers around and Sabine Edelsbacher's angelic vocals are just getting better with every release.
It's hard to select stand-out tracks here - it's the way these Austrians work. But the record starts well with "Shine", and finishes just as well with "The Canterville Ghost", while in the middle is a collection of lilting and grabbing songs, with deftly poetic lyrics, that just become better and better the more one listens to them. And that really is one of Edenbridge's strengths - they mightn't have breathtaking ingenuity, but they somehow manage to offer much with what they do, and are a band whose material just continues to grow on the listener.

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