If you find yourself tired of the now well known Dimmu Borgir formula of symphonic black, then Hermh may perhaps help you view the genre with new eyes. Is not like this Polish band re-invents the symphonic/melodic black movement, but they manage to make it interesting again; using with accuracy and plain good taste a nice keyboard line that extracts some memorable atmospheres helping the production move along despite some simplistic riffs.

Eden’s Fire runs the perfect length, 40 minutes of 8 solid tracks, that if it weren’t for the keyboards will all sound repetitive and boring. The sound levels are very intelligently design to enhance the atmospheres on every track, relegating to a dirty back the vocals and the guitar lines, but this as the album runs along becomes a sort of “personal” approach for Hermh. No, the record is not a constant display of keyboard skills, but it is more than obvious that these guys wanted you to pay attention to all the arrangements and through them force you to stay for a little longer.

There is a lack of “distinctive” or maybe of different songs in the album, the whole keyboard placement as I have been praising through this review at some points backfires on the band, because it diminishes the segments were you can get involved into something more than the atmospheres; nonetheless songs like “Back From Divine” do have some great guitar work, a little reserve or shy I may add, but it those have some catchy riffs and a memorable solo, that makes you wonder, what would have happen to this record if the band had just tuned it down a little bit on the melodic department.

Eden’s Fire is an interesting record, worthy of time to listen; but after a while you come to realize that they needed to put a bit more anger… fury, lets just call it energy on the record, so that Hermh could really break away from comparisons to Dimmu.