Everyone has their own ways of procrastinating. One of mine is going through releases tagged as melodic death metal, then picking bands whose name indicates we might have similar views of the genre to try. I know I’m setting myself up for disappointment, yet do it anyway. I picked out Eden’s Decay because it sounded suitably dramatic and moody. I prepared myself to be underwhelmed, and hit play. From the first notes of Innerfeind though, I knew I had something—probably because it doesn’t sound much like what most people call melodeath.
That made sense on learning that Eden’s Decay also describe themselves as an atmoblack band. The most accurate description is to say they split the difference, and that’s particularly true on Innerfeind’s opener, “Phobos”. There’s very much a blackened Insomnium vibe to the elegiac melodies and dark guitar sound. That isn’t their only trick though. “Panik” has a black n’ roll core riff that somewhat reminds me of Shining. “Sturm” opens slow and hypnotic like a doom dirge before launching into a tremolo assault. The variety shown both endears Innerfeind to me and leaves me wishing they’d stuck more to their melodeath side. Every song has its moments though and the downbeat, contemplative, post-metal tinged build of album closer “Innerfeind” is a highlight. When the fury hits in that song, it hits. Eden’s Decay write long tracks, and some of them don’t require such duration but here they use the full weight of the length to create a big beautiful cathartic moment.
Innerfeind has only grown on me with each listen. I have a fear that an unexpected hit will fall short when the novelty wears off but that’s emphatically not the case here. This is a fine album that starts and finishes very strong, and given this is a full-length debut I’m excited by the prospect Eden’s Decay could get even better. But even if they don’t, it just goes to show that sometimes trawling through the release sheet is an excellent use of time indeed.
