Metal Underground.com

Rejoice prog fans: the album you have been waiting for is now here! Organs, flutes, string instruments, heavy guitars, smooth clean singing, and more all collide on the massively eclectic “Years In The Gardens Of Years” from New York outfit Edensong. You'll never know what to expect from these 10 tracks, from “Cold City” starting off with a strong folk vibe, to the electronic keyboard ending track “Yawn Of A Blink.” The album is constantly twisting and turning between sounds, so it's hard to nail down a specific genre, and that's just as a progressive release should be.

There are some clear parallels here to new school Opeth with the '70s rock direction. Remember that odd jazz flute from “Heritage?” That's utilized extensively across the disc, and frankly to a better degree. The organ segments will also bring to mind that Swedish band's mid-era before changing full bore into retro rock territory. Outside the instrumentation, there's a fabulous vocal delivery that's not too restrained or too operatic and has some force behind it even while staying clean.

Such a wide range of sounds are on display that's it hard to pick one standout style without writing paragraphs about each track. The piano segments in particular are worth noting however, as they are worked in alongside the guitars and vocals to a stunning degree, shining most strongly on “Down The Hours” where piano actually takes the place of the drums. That track also manages to make the flute sound “heavy,” and when the organ comes in at the end out of nowhere you've got a prog version of a Final Fantasy battle song.

“The Hollowed” has a distinctly Asian movie feel with baroque plucked strings in the intro, smoothly transitioning into something more mysterious with a mixture of acoustic guitar and piano. The swirling, relentless piano keys placed beside the stuttering jazz flute part is a little over the top, but the song absolutely nails it on the atmosphere front. “The Hallowed” is clearly painting a picture and telling a story without words, and this song could easily be the soundtrack to some big budget movie.

The slowly building feel on “Chronos” is another high point, reaching its crescendo at the end with crazy disorienting bells that keep pace with the guitars, creating something totally different than you are going to hear on any other album. Each track adds in more elements over time, until later songs like “The Atman Apocalypse” utilize them all together – organ, Asian strings, flute, guitars, etc. The album also tends to get heavier the further you go towards the back end, so the metal aspects sneak up on a listener.

While perhaps less heavy overall than might be typical of a metal album, the fact of the matter is that anyone who loves Devin Townsend, any given prog power band, Dream Theater, the all-clean songs from mid-era Opeth, or folk music has an absolutely amazing album to look forward to with “Years In The Garden Of Years.”