Today is the four year anniversary of ‘Melodies for Maladies’. This record was a hugely ambitious undertaking that was physically, emotionally and mentally draining.

The concept of the album as explicitly titled, was about external and internal maladies based around five characters. The characters lead towards themes which explore the media’s weaponisation of reality, predicting the end of the world in order to profiteer from it, a leader’s decision to go into war and the consequences of that, depression, anxiety, and surviving and eventually reviving oneself from tragedy by finding meaning. (Nice and light!)

The result musically is a progressive metal album that is an hour long (including a 23 minute long 2 part piece!) and draws particular influence from King Crimson, Rush, Steven Wilson, Dream Theater and Tool.

The technical and emotional demands of this record made me feel at times like I would never complete it. Four years on, I’m glad to say it’s been listened to and I’ve sold CDs around the world and am grateful to everyone who has given it a spin. The collaboration of hugely talented people meant that this record was possible so it’s worth listing them and expressing my gratitude here.

Alex Broben – Bass guitar

Aled Lloyd – Drums Andrew Bishop – Engineer/Co-Producer

Emma Davidson – Additional vocals

Theo Travis – Soprano Saxophone and Flute solos in Introspect Part 2

Stephen Preston – Piano solo on Introspect part 2

Rob Kidd – Mixing

Mike Hillier – Mastering

Colin Elgie – Artwork

Dale Johnson – Album layout and design

Bethan Miller – Photography

If you’ve yet to come across this album and grande concept progressive metal is your thing then ‘melodies for maladies’ was made for you. I also have physical CDs available to order on Bandcamp and do enjoy a walk to the post office to send them off.

Link to Bandcamp page: https://edenshadow.bandcamp.com/album/melodies-for-maladiesYou can

listen to the album here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1rz6n2TL2XuJvnxbvGrpuZ…

https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/eden-shadow/524272988