Review by Felix on December 16, 2020.

Perhaps some of you know my most favourite topic to write about. The German thrash metal explosion in the mid-eighties played a very important role in my musical socialisation. But in the shadow of the thrash movement, a smaller scene also began to create metal. S.A.D.O., Noisehunter, Helloween (after “Walls of Jericho”) and Scanner are representatives of this scene – and Chroming Rose. All these units mixed traditional metal, speed metal and nonsensical nursery rhymes.

Garden of Eden was the second album from the Bavarian guys who were not everybody’s darling. Back in 1990, they gave an interview in the German Rock Hard magazine, but the journalists just wanted to babble about the oh so inadequate rock star behaviour of the band and the ostensible hype about the boys who had a contract with the EMI. Very interesting... On the other hand and freely speaking, Garden of Eden did not deliver many arguments to discuss it. The album with the crude artwork exactly houses the mixture I mentioned above with all its ups and downs. Speedy tracks like 'Integration' keep on running decently until they reach their slightly embarrassing, catchy yet sugary chorus. A mid-paced rocker like 'Time Will Never Change' sounds earthier. In general, the guys did not write bad riffs and they were familiar with the spirit of real metal, at least to a certain extent. Therefore I truly regret that they shot themselves in the foot by integrating the overly melodic and pretty light sequences.

The most complex song (the title track) wants to sound like a piece of Maiden and I admit that it is cleverly arranged. Tempo shifts, vigorous instrumental parts, almost menacing sections, Steve Harris will not miss important ingredients. The only thing that annoys is the high-pitched clear voice during a short silent break. Nevertheless, Blind Guardian still regretted that they did not open this track. But before enthusiasm can take possession of the listener, the kitschy ballad sets in. 'Music Is the Gate', already the title makes me sick. This is one of these pieces that want to impress religious housewives who think they must be pretty obscene from time to time by listening secretly to rock music. Needless to say that this target group never heard of the name Chroming Rose. You must be Blackie Lawless to sell such a crap successfully. His vocals are much more charismatic than those of Gerd Salewski, who performs solidly, but without adding an extra dose of musical class. The riffing of the next track 'Top Fuel' sounds like a saviour after this caricature of a ballad. But one more time, the lilted chorus destroys a lot of the quality of the tune.

Nine regular tracks and a bonus song made clear: this band had potential, but it loved to make wrong decisions. The great number of lousy choruses illustrates this fact painfully. Naturally, their major label had taken care for a proper, clean and not overly heavy sound, but the song material revealed too many flaws to bring Chroming Rose on the level Helloween had already reached with great ease. I didn’t care about this. I kept my focus on thrash metal.

Rating: 5.4 out of 10