Empires of Eden - "Guardians of Time"

Dec 12, 2024

Aussie guitarist Stu Marshall (ex-Dungeon, ex-Paindivision, ex-Death Dealer) is the driving force behind the collaborative Power Metal project that is Empires of Eden. The project follows in the spiritual footsteps of acts like Avantasia and Ayreon — except they’re Australian!

Guardians of Time is the project’s fifth album, with the first two having released in 2009 and 2010. It’s actually been nine years since the projects last album, which came out in 2015. As this is a collaborative project, I sought out the full lineup of guests to include here:

Vocals

Rob Rock (Impellitteri): Lead Vocals on “Guardians Of Time”
Darren Smith (Jake E. Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel): Lead Vocals on “When Will It End”
Jonas Heidgert (Dragonland): Lead Vocals on “Mortal Rites”
David Readman (Pink Cream 69): Lead Vocals on “The Inner Me”
Sean Peck (Death Dealer): Lead Vocals on “When The Beast Comes Out”
Tony Webster (Archetype): Lead Vocals on “Stand United”
Louie Gorgievski (Night Legion): Lead Vocals on “August Runs Red”, “Baptise This Hell”, “Baptise This Hell (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]”
Jeff Martin (ex-Racer X): Lead Vocals on “The Devil’s Only Friend”
Danny Cecati (Wicked Smile) – Lead Vocals on “Baptise This Hell (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]”
John “Gio” Cavaliere (Black Majesty) – Lead Vocals on “Baptise This Hell (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]”
Genevieve Rodda (Temtris) – Lead Vocals on “Baptise This Hell (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]”

Bass

John Gallagher (Raven): Bass on “Guardians Of Time”
Mike LePond (Symphony X): Bass on “When Will It End” and “The Devil’s Only Friend”

Guitars

Tony Truglio (ex-Liege Lord): Guest Solo on “Mortal Rites”
Anthony Fox (Temtris) – Lead Guitar on “Baptise This Hell (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]”
Aaron Adie (Elm Street) – Lead Guitar on “Baptise This Hell (Alternate Version) [Bonus Track]”

Drums

Clay T. (Arkenstone): Drums on “When Will It End” and “The Devil’s Only Friend”

I can tell you at a glance that the only true A-lister on here is bassist Mike LePond of Symphony X. Even then, their last album also released in 2015. I also recognize Dragonland’s Jonas Heidgart, whose performance on 2022’s Power of the Nightstar was one of the highlights of the year in the Metal world.

But that’s the nice thing about these collaborative projects — you get exposed to a lot of talent that you might not have otherwise been aware of. I found acts like Oceans of Slumber and Stream of Passion because of Ayreon.

But Ayreon and Avantasia are much more polished products than Empires of Eden — Guardians of Time is raw, start-to-finish. The effect is great in some songs, like “When Will It End” and “The Inner Me”. It’s just good, straight, concert-quality Metal in these cases. The majority of these songs are competent Power Metal,1 tinged with classic Heavy or Thrash or a bit of both.

But then there are also several tracks like “When the Beast Comes Out”, which are middling at best, but at least they’re tolerable.

Of course, if I’m saying “at least they’re tolerable”, we’ve got trouble. In this case, the trouble is that Marshall allowed “Stand United” onto the album in its existing state. As it is, the performance of vocalist Tony Webster2 is intolerable. His tenor is pitchy from start to finish, but then he reaches for the high, legato notes in falsetto, and he’s so flat that, for a moment, the Earth isn’t round anymore.

I’ll be frank. This is when I stopped listening to the album. I can’t tell you anything about tracks 9-12 because I didn’t listen to them. Raw is one thing; festering is another. Track 8 tells me that Marshall doesn’t care enough about the quality of his music to make the hard calls and edit his product. He doesn’t take it seriously, so neither do I.

Rating: Red

Empires of Eden - "Guardians of Time"

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