CoC : New Eden - Obscure Master Plan : Review

New Eden - _Obscure Master Plan_
(Nuclear Blast, 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell (7 out of 10)

I don't care for this a great deal, although I would encourage fans of their debut album _Through the Make Believe_ and also any Elegy fans out there to at least give it a spin. I have given it about all the spins I'm going to give it, and I was not satisfied, especially since it was their first for Nuclear Blast. What were they thinking? Some of the vocal melodies are way off, but seemingly intentionally. Why? Sometimes the vocals are just plain annoying. Worse yet, some of the guitar melodies don't jive with what is going on in the song. Did they forget how to write the killer melodies that were displayed on _TtMB_? Just because you can play with great technical skill doesn't necessarily mean that you can write good songs. I think that they are trying to be a bit abstract with their songsmithing now, but sadly it just does not sound good. When they get going, get into a groove, and start letting the leads fly, then they put out some great music, and there are many songs that provide saving graces for this album. Also the lyrics are intelligent and are definitely an asset, but _Obscure Master Plan_ falls short because of (over) "creativity".

(article published 19/5/1999)