Edge Of Paradise – Prophecy
Los Angeles based symphonic rock/metal band, Edge Of Paradise, return with their sixth studio album, Prophecy, and it’s something of almost a concept album. In the words of the band the album “rages against humanity’s loss of control of AI, leading to potentially cataclysmic shifts to life as we know it.”
From the opening bars we can certainly hear this rage as the song, Death Note, kicks off with heavy, riff-based chugging guitars and driving drums which leads nicely into a catchy melodic chorus followed by a great synth breakdown, a middle 8 with an almost nu-metal feel with the vocals bordering on rap rather than singing and then back to the catchiness of the chorus; a great opener and one of the stand out tracks on the album. Moving through the next few songs we’re treated to all of the standard trademarks that we might expect from modern symphonic metal: down-tuned guitars, dance and industrial tinged drum beats and rhythms, “beauty and the beast” vocals and plenty of rhythmic interest with half-time breakdowns and double-time choruses and we also get both an Eastern and a Gothic feel in parts which adds to the interest; it’s all pretty standard and well executed stuff for a female-fronted symphonic/melodic pop metal band.
Sad Life Of A Rose, could be described as a metal ballad with a gothic air and some great synth work before we’re back to driving rock with industrial groove and then a straight up piano/vocal ballad, Hear Me, which unfortunately is a low point for me. The vocal recording on the song is incredibly “breathy”, and although we’re assuming this was done to try and create intimacy and emotion in the track, it does in fact do just the opposite; this breathiness is distracting and I’m certain that on further listens this one would be an instant skip. Happily the energy quickly returns after this blip: The Other Side Of Fear, driving with dance energy, Martyr (Monster) another stand out song with a return of the Eastern feel and an absolute fabulous vocal performance. Relive Again brings the pace down a little before we close out with the bombastic, melodic uplifting Falling Light.
Production on the album is good and it’s got that in your face crushing, slick modern metal sound, but there’s also plenty of emotion and atmosphere throughout. The guitars sound great, the musicianship is excellent and more importantly the songs are great too. The pacing of the songs is also good and well thought out and the band have made great choices with the opening and closing songs. My only criticism of the album lies with the vocals. Margarita Monet is undoubtedly a great singer, with an incredible range and herein lies the problem. When she sings in her lower and middle registers the vocal is outstanding; an example would be the the quite brilliant vocal performance on Martyr (Monster) but on much of this album the backing vocals, and lead vocals on occasion, see her move up into her high vocal register and at times this can be very piercing, distracting and fatiguing on the ears. If this high vocal had been utilised less, or had been EQd and Compressed differently and folded back into the mix then the vocal overall would be excellent; unfortunately this just isn’t the case and my enjoyment of the album really suffers for it.
So here we have another classic symphonic/melodic pop metal album with a gothic/EDM tinge and if you’re a fan of bands like Amaranthe, Evanescence and Lacuna Coil you’re probably gonna love it.
Rating: 6/10 – Good
Label: Napalm Records
Released: March 7th 2025
Wayne McAloon | Now Spinning Magazine
