With a sound that faithfully brings to mind the pugnacious output of such bruising acts as Converge, Breach, early Cave In, Botch and more, you'd expect Eden Maine to hail from the American east coast, but surprisingly this quintet hail from an entirely different continent with their home base being located in the U.K. So how did a band so far away from a particular scene capture a sound so perfectly? Well for starters the production of Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou plays a good part, but the bands continual strides for progressively crushing metal and attention to detail seem to be the biggest factor as "The Treachery Pact" is filled with more than a few unexpected twists and turns and moments of extreme intensity.

While Converge reminiscent drumming and breakdowns are indeed often on hand, the group differentiate themselves by instead staying their pace to focus on fleshing out such ferocious assaults, giving them time to fully sink in. Meanwhile, distinctly throaty vocals scream out commands like some type of demonic drill sergeant overtop of this metallic cacophony,making for a very rock solid approach. Eden Maine's vocal work is by no means a one trick pony however as band frontman Adam Symonds is readily assisted by guitarists Simon Davies and Phil Buch, both of whom contribute to the fray which makes way for a number of detached melodic verses and choruses that truly establish an engaging dynamic.

Overtly heavy and brilliantly balanced, Eden Maine are a band who have the ability to appeal to a wide array of metal fans - not because they have watered down their sound to cater to everyone, but because they have taken the time to hone it into multiple points of attack. This is one of their strong points as where most bands in this corner of heavy music tend to find one angle and stick to it, this group instead have instead built a solid base and expanded from it. Such a statement is only evidenced from the time they take to dip into progressive noise territory ala Isis and the like on a handful of tracks included. Pros aside, a few of the song ideas don't feel fully realized and a track or two can sound a bit underdeveloped as a result, though this does little to take away from the enjoyment this disc contains in the long run. All this and more make Eden Maine a definite contender in the metalcore ranks and line them up as a band that should be able to make quite a name for themselves with this and future efforts if their location doesn't hamper their ability to tour and generate word of mouth.