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This is one of those albums that I call a grower. The first couple of times I didn't like this much, if at all. Mostly because of things like the practically omnipresent double bass drumming which doesn't always fit the moment, and the rythm changes that sometimes feel out of place, giving some of the songs a feeling of "the shakes" that doesn't come out really well. After several listens, such little annoyances are replaced by the discovery of the band's influences, and they're all over the place: First of all, without sounding like Nevermore, Eden's Fall sure borrow a lot from the band's style - heavy/power meets thrash with a good dose of heaviness, a mix of anger and melancholy, and while the singer sounds nothing like Warrel Dane, here again he borrows heavily from his style. Now throw in some Testament, early Iced Earth (especially the darker material such as "Burnt Offerings") and a few more discreet others, and you get quite the hectic combination. It's both a blessing and a curse - as much as this makes the music interesting, it often gives it a feel of a lack of direction. Heaviness and darkness is the name of the game here: With a name like that I was expecting something flowery at first, but this is like a bulldozer that went through the garden and left nothing alive behind.

Despite some shortcomings, there's enough interesting material here to make this worth checking out. For a self-produced first album, this is very good. I suggest giving it some time to sink in - I myself almost dismissed it after a couple of listens and that would have been a mistake. Intesting side note: The lyrics are printed vertically in the booklet.