OFF THE EDGE
940299
CD
UNFINSHED BUSINESS
MELODIC (ROCK)The 2nd album from this South African rock band, and it’s a vast improvement on the debut, in every way. For a start, the 13 songs are a step up from the material on the ‘Just Another Band’ album – A sixty-minute set of female-vocal led anthemic compositions that will have you joining in the choruses after just a play or two, and with the inclusion of several corking instrumentals along the way. This really is a most satisfying album, that has as one of it’s many highlights, an emotion filled and heartfelt homage to the events of Sept 11th 2001 - A superbly sung, powerful AOR ballad where the band and vocalists soar majestically through a brilliantly composed song that is guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye and a lump in the throat as you listen and remember.
It opens with the first of those instrumental tracks in ‘Riff Valley’ and immediately we hear a great production in force as wicked electric leads are unleashed while guitar and bass riffs drive the track on alongside some strong drumming - All very melodic, but still well heavy with a big, big sound! The first song, ‘Hold On’, has a mix of strong, catchy choruses allied to strong female vocals, and instrumentally, there’s a great sense of dynamics at work, using electric and acoustic guitars, surging riffs and clipped rhythms restrained to crunching drum work. With a searing guitar solo in the middle, this is as fine an anthemic AOR track as you’ll hear, getting the song side off the album to a splendid start. ‘Cry For Help’ revolves around a similar structure and yet another infectious chorus, with a feel of Lana Lane in its sound and qualities. In fact, anyone into Lana Lane could also be enjoying this album for a long time to come. ‘Alone’ starts in reflective mode with just vocals and acoustic guitars, as other instruments gradually appear and the whole thing begins to head toward the sky-high AOR power ballad it eventually becomes. It reaches this point in magical style, only to drop back after the main chorus and then build once more, with all the tension and release modelled to perfection with a huge production – Just a great sound and another superb song that’s equally well delivered by the band and vocalist. Of the rest, four further instrumentals show the band as a unit who can tackle a mix of rock, AOR and fragility, to make compositions that are totally in keeping with the flavour of the album as a whole. For the songs, there are a lot more great compositions to savour, all with suitably multi-layered passages, with ‘Remember September’ being the truly heartfelt homage to the carnage of Sept 11th 2001. That piece is one of the album’s many highlights - A superbly sung, lyrically aware song that is initially set to just acoustic guitar, string-synth and bass, then it builds to a fantastic, powerful AOR ballad where the band and vocalists soar majestically to heights most could never dream of reaching – A brilliantly composed song that is guaranteed to create a lump in the throat as you listen and remember. Overall, a startlingly great talent that deserves far wide recognition on the strength of this album that doesn’t have a bad track on it, and is one that many fans of AOR and, to an extent, prog rock, will enjoy and treasure for many years to come.
Weight: 150.00 g
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