EDENBRIDGE – Interview with Sabine Edelsbacher

After the metal boom in the late 90, appeared lots of new metal bands. Dozens of them sound as Helloween clones, but some, have their own, unique style. “Angelic Bombast Metal” played by Edenbridge shows metal inspired by musicals and symphonic music. A perfect combination of these genres made Edenbridge one of the best bands on the metal scene these days. I have asked the person who is responisble for the “angelic” side of Edenbridge about new album and few more things . Ladies and gentleman…. Sabine Edelsbacher!!!

You have released new album called “Aphelion”. Unfortunatelly I haven't heard it yet (But I promise I will!!!). Tell me something about it. Is it different than the prevoius releases?

I think so. “Aphelion” marks the next step in our history. It´s our heaviest album so far and the production is also the best so far. Although we kept our style of course we did a lot of new experiments on that album.

Do you have musical education? Your vocals sound very professional.

Thank you. I never had a training in classical music. I took some lessons in the past. Most of those had to do with breathing techniques and body exercises. For me it is very important to sing from the heart and not to focus too much on technique although it is important.

Is there a musician who was a pattern for you. Why did you decide to sing?

I didn´t have an idol concerning singing. Why did I decide to sing ? Well, I started as a child and singing was always important for me cause I´ve been loving it. But as you might know I like Celine Dion and Sarah Brightman a lot.

“The Angelic Bombast Metal”. This is a perfect name for music you are playing. I know that you are interested in Musicals. I think that Edenbridge's music is influenced by them. Especially the harmonies and melodies.

I love musicals, especially “Dance of the Vampyres” and “Elisabeth”, 2 musicals that were a great success in Vienna. Lanvall, who writes the whole music of Edenbridge also loves those musicals. Well I think there are certainly influences in our music, but that´s only a small part of many different influences.

The band was formed in 1998. It was the beginning of the second wave of metal. Did you expect that Edenbridge will achieve such big success?

We hoped for it but you can never expect it. It´s important to believe in what you do then it´s possible but there is still a long way to the top (ha,ha).

I know that you were singing with D.C Cooper. What kind of experience was it?

D.C. is my absolute favorite singer in the metal scene. I met him during the “Missa Mercuria” recordings where I was singing one song. Then he sang with me on “Red ball in blue sky”, one song of our new album. It´s really great to have him on the album.

You sang on Beto Vazquez Infinity album, together with Tarja Turunen, Candice Night, Fabio Lione. The result is impressive. Tell me how did you get into this project.

Marcelo from NEMS Enterprises called me in October 2000 and told me about that project. It sounded interesting and I was curious about the songs. A while later I got the tapes of my songs which I liked very much and then I confirmed in taking part. First I was very curious about the work of all members in their countries and how they bring all those together in the final mixdown. When I got the final CD I was impressed. It really sounds as we all recorded in the same studio.

What kind of music do you listen? What do you think about bands which play music similar to Edenbridge.

I like melodic heavy metal bands like Royal Hunt, Sonata Arctica, AOR bands like Fair Warning, Dare Survivor and of course Queen. I like Celine Dion and Sarah Brightman as mentioned, musicals, classical music and so on. My taste is very open. What I think about bands which play similar music to us ? If they like to do that.

If you look on the metal scene you will see that most of musiscians are men. Why?

Metal was always men-dominated but it´s good that more and more women are coming into the scene. Why should metal be a men-music ? Go to some concerts and you will see a lot of women in the audience.

The first time I've heard Edenbridge was when my girlfriend show me your “Arcana” record. Since then, “Fly On A Rainbow Dream” is one of my favourite songs. I am curious about the lirycs. The fit perfectly to the music. Who is writing them? Can you imagine Edenbridge with different kind of lirycs?

Lanvall is writing all the lyrics and they perfectly underline the music. I think lyrically and also musically Edenbridge differ a lot from the rest of the scene. It´s very important that the lyrics spread positive feelings and energy so it would be hard to imagine if they dealt with themes like war or the typically heavy metal based stuff like swords and dragons.

You have toured Korea with Sinergy. Was it successfull? What do you think about their music?

Korea was great. We played as co-headliner of the first day at the Busan Rock Festival in front of 20.000 people. Then we had a second show with Sinergy in a nice club in Seoul. Sinergy is a great band and we had a very good time with them.

You are from Austria. What is the condition of the metal scene there? Are there any new interesting bands?

The metal scene is still small but there is a band called Visions of Atlantis, who are good friends of us. Their bass player Mike Koren is currently helping us out at the moment. They could be the next band from Austria reaching world wide recognition.

You sing in a metal band, travel to many places. Do you have any unrealised dreams, goals in life?

Of course I have goals in life but most of them are too personal to mention here. Musically we are still working on bringing the band as far as possible.

There are many metal bands nowadays. Ehm. Do you consider Edenbridge more as a metal band or maybe something else??? However I want to ask about the beginnings of your career. Was it easy to achieve so much?

Edenbridge is a metal band but with a different approach. I don´t have a metal voice and this makes it interesting, the counterparts in our music. It´s never easy to achieve a lot. I think it´s a combination of talent, hard work and to be on the right place at the right time.

Three albums are already released. Any plans for the future? Maybe a live album???

A live album and a DVD are interesting for the future, maybe after the 4th or 5th studio album. We have been collecting a lot of material with our handycam.

And on the end few short questions: