adg211288 Circus Black is the fourth full-length album from Finnish symphonic metal/neo-classical power metal act Amberian Dawn. The release features guest appearances from Stratovarius members Timo Kotipelto (on Cold Kiss) and Jens Johansson (on Crimson Flower). The album was released in 2012, making this the band’s longest break between studio albums, their last being 2010’s End of Eden, which I saw as their weakest album so far, something I personally put down to following an album-per-year cycle that ultimately resulted in a patchy release that contained both some of their best but also some of their weakest tracks. They’ve left it a bit longer between albums this time and thankfully Circus Black sees the band returning to the form of their first two albums River of Tuoni (2008) and The Clouds of Northland Thunder (2009).

In terms of style, nothing has really changed for Amberian Dawn. They still mix symphonic metal with neo-classical power metal, though perhaps not to the exact same extents as their earliest material. All that sets Circus Black above End of Eden is that the writing is more consistent throughout. There are no dud tracks as in the previous album. That’s satisfying for a fan of their past material, but with four releases under their belt I’d have liked the band to develop their sound a lot more than they have been doing by this point. I love Amberian Dawn’s sound, I really do, but even though it overall wasn’t as good, I can’t help feeling that End of Eden was actually a braver album than this one. Circus Black is as playing it safe as playing it safe gets. The lack of surprises is a double-edged sword, on one hand there’s nothing that will backfire on them as with End of Eden’s classical track Virvatulen Laulu, but there’s also nothing that breaks the band any new ground.

To elaborate further, I can’t really fault the songs on offer here for what they are. Circus Black is in all fairness a great album, and I’ll still grade it as such, but I can’t help feeling that the band could be so much more. Symphonic metal can be a very epic form of metal, but Amberian Dawn doesn’t seem prepared to exploit this to the best of their very apparent ability, instead favouring use of pretty standard song structures, most of which clock in with short durations (the longest here is 5:09). The band may flirt with some progressive ideas from time to time, as in The Rivalry Between Good And Evil, but imagine what they would be like if they went the whole hog and combined that and their strong symphonic sound with some longer tracks. They’d create something really special. It’s not that it isn’t epic at all, but it’s all mini-epics. The potential is all there but the tracks are over before it has much chance to get going. Even one or two compositions that pushed the boat out would have helped the album a lot.

This leaves me with concerns for Amberian Dawn’s continued viability within the symphonic metal genre. I remember when they first released their debut River of Tuoni in 2008, and thinking of them as a real contender to be among the genre’s finniest acts but since then they’ve done little to nothing to evolve their sound beyond just being a cut above most acts in the genre, and as much as I still like them, I can’t help feeling that they’re in danger of getting stale. Their next album could really make or break them.

But credit where credit is due it’s also clear after four albums that Amberian Dawn has decided on their sound and it looks like at this stage everything they deliver in the future will just be Amberian Dawn being Amberian Dawn, kind of like a new Motörhead album is Motörhead being Motörhead. That’s fine to a point, if you’re good at what you do and Amberian Dawn definitely are then there’s no shame in that, but at the same time I can’t really justify a score any higher than what I’m giving Circus Black in this review, and in some ways I feel over generous with this.

8.0/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

adg211288 End of Eden is Amberian Dawn’s third album, keeping up with their one album a year output since 2008’s debut River of Tuoni. The band has always played a brand of neoclassical influenced symphonic power metal and Eden of Eden breaks no new territory in that regard, as most of the album follows this same formula as their previous two efforts. The band tries to break some new territory, such as by including an entirely classical piece, Virvatulen Laulu, on the album. Unfortunately that song doesn’t do them any favours, sounding out of place entirely. In all honestly elsewhere on the album Amberian Dawn isn’t exactly providing anything that breaks any new ground in their sound, but fortunately what End of Eden does give the listener is some of the band’s best songs to date, even if as a whole, End of Eden isn’t as solid as River of Touni or The Clouds of Northland Thunder, and may with time be seen as a bit of a stumble on their musical journey.

Two good examples of Amberian Dawn’s best songs are actually the first two tracks on the album, Talisman and Come Now Follow, especially the latter which is one of the album’s best songs overall. There is some really excellent neoclassical guitar going on here (think Yngwie J. Malmsteen style). If you looked at them you’d be forgiven for thinking that Amberian Dawn would be just another Nightwish clone, since all the key elements are present – soprano singer, keyboardist, some heavy guitars, you get the picture. But Amberian Dawn as a band is so much more. Yes, they have those elements of the typical symphonic metal band but they’ve honed that sound to perfection and expanded on it. True, End of Eden isn’t exactly something new for them, so what we really have to look for here is a solid album from a band who promise better to come.

With that said, End of Eden is probably their weakest album to date, and tracks like the aforementioned Virvatulen Laulu and lead single Arctica are the reason why. If you put Virvatulen Laulu aside as an experiment that didn’t really pay off (though it must be said it would sound so much better with just Heidi Parviainen’s vocals and not with guest male vocalist Markus Nieminen), Arctica may just be the band’s weakest song to date. Though it has its moments overall it just generally bores me that sometimes I want to skip it. Why the band choose this track as their lead single I’ll never know. In all honestly after hearing this for the first time I was severely worried about End of Eden being terrible. Fortunately it isn’t, far from it, but this and Virvatulen Laulu really drag down my enjoyment of the album as a whole.

Other highlights include Ghostly Echoes, Sampo, Field of Serpents and City of Corruption. The good does far outweigh the bad on End of Eden, but overall it is just a solid album and very far from a masterpiece, which after two strong albums I was hoping for on their third effort. They do however save one of the really best for last, the seven and a half minute War in Heaven. There is another guest singer here, Peter James Goodman, who has appeared on every Amberian Dawn album to date, but this time with some less clean vocals. Not growls, but somewhere in between. He’s a much more welcome guest than the opera singer from the previous track. Noted keyboardist Jens Johansson also provides some guest keyboard lead here and on the earlier track, City of Corruption.

Despite a couple of dud songs, the band is generally on top form with their performance, especially singer Heidi Parviainen and the guitar work. In fact if it wasn’t for those duds this album probably would be exactly what I had hoped for, but as it is Amberian Dawn still haven’t quite delivered us their masterpiece. Close, but no cigar. It's still worth a fan of the band owning, but I wouldn't advise it as the best starting point for a new listener.