Edge of forever-Another Paradise

7Hard
2010

Italy's Edge of forever return stronger than ever with their third release "Another Paradise" which is also their first album in over five years. Keyboardist Alessandro Del Vecchio has now stepped up to the microphone and replaced Bob Harris although Harris does contribute some backing vocals on this album. So the band is now officially a four piece, but that does not cut down on the power of the band. They still present a forceful brand of melodic hard rock. The vocals are truly the focus as most songs cut in quickly and Del Vecchio procedes to lead the way through twisting melodies. His voice is versatile and steady as he helps lay down the foundation for these songs. The majority of the material has me thinking of the likes of Journey, Whitesnake, Dokken, Alias and other AOR/melodic hard rock leaders from twenty or so years ago. Many of the songs are primarily slow, but the band does enough to swith up the pace with some heavier passages and soaring keyboards. In fact the album was going along great until their cover of Irene Cara's "What a Feeling" from dance movie Flashdance. I think was ill-advised choice as even a good band like Edge of forever could not hope to transform that limp piece of pulp into anything respectable. After that I felt like they lost some momentum, but they convinced me enough as they got back on track and finished the album well. This band has a lot of talent and it's not just playing because they are always fantastic at arrangements as well. Bad cover song aside, this is the first really good album I have hard this year.