I always enjoy reviewing a Dutch band. It gives me the feeling that although we are a small country we still have some great talent that is capable of creating some great music. Of course most of the time the albums or demo’s are shitty like hell, but every now and then you’ll come across one that grabs your attention. This is exactly what happened with Edge Of Serenity.

I’ve been listening to this album for quite a while now and I’m still not getting enough of it. Edge Of Serenity combines melodical metal with influences of black and doom metal. During the first couple of songs they easily switch from a melodical Soilwork style to Paradise Lost. Along the way they also took a bit of Dimmu Borgir along, just because they can.

The greatest thing about this album is the variety of styles that are entwined together so good that it all sounds so easy and logical within the song. A great example of this is the combination ‘Born To Fall Apart ’with Judith Stüber (Everon, Satyrian) on guest vocals and ‘Endless Brutality’ with the guest vocals of Tony J.J. (M.A.N., ex-Mnemic). One song is beautifully fragile and the other one ships from brutal to subtle and back to brutal.

The band exists of two members that add session musicians for clubshows and to be honest I’d love to see them perform onstage, especially since I’m very curious if they can pull this off live. This is a great album that could be a great surprise for fans of melodical (black) metal. It certainly has a chance of ending in my yearlist.