Edge of Forever – Ritual Album Review

Album review by Phil M

Italian heavy rockers Edge of Forever have released their new album ‘Ritual’. Frontman and keyboardist Alessandro Del Vecchio has an incredible CV, having worked with many of the great and good in the European rock world, as a musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer. His output since the early 2000s has been amazingly prolific and this is the second coming of Edge of Forever, originally formed by Del Vecchio in 2004 and releasing three albums at that time. With Aldo Lonobile on guitars, Nik Mazzucconi on bass and Marco Di Salvia on drums he returns with album five of the second stint under this banner.

The album’s underlying theme that inspired the album is that of the residential school tragedy and relates to the story of “the last two indigenous people speaking a language soon to be forgotten. The twins, a boy and a girl were sent to two different residential schools and were told that there was no one else left from their nation and they needed to forget everything they might remember from it, either language or culture”. Eventually, they re-meet but sadly on his deathbed, despite that, the album is uplifting and full of hope.

First up is a single release ‘Where are You’, opening with subtle guitar picking before the band lets rip the sound is bombastic, verse vocals over a great bass sound, a key change and then into the sing-along chorus and great lead solo with harmonics aplenty.

‘Water Be My Path’ is the most recent single release, slower than the breath-taking opener with some nice guitar chords, and harmony vocals leading into the catchy chorus. There’s a harmonic guitar solo (you can never have enough of those) and great keyboard sounds beneath and there’s a touch of Bon Jovi’s ‘Dead or Alive’ to the riff in parts.

‘Freeing My Will’ makes the opener look slow-paced, rattling along at an impressive rate of knots and a virtuoso level guitar solo shredding away and interspersed with similar from the keyboards. Ballad ‘Love Is the Only Answer’ opens with piano before the bass and then guitar comes in, and another key change takes us into the vocal harmonies of the chorus. ‘Forever’s Unfolding’ is again epic in nature with great guitar and keyboard work.

And so, into the seven parts of Ritual itself, part one was the first single release from the album, kicking off with a great riff synchronised across guitar and keyboards, thumping bass, and airy keyboard sounds. I love the guitar chord changes in the chorus and bass riffing. Part two ‘Revert Destiny’ has a punchy beat and ‘Taunting Souls’ raises the tempo before the acapella and short ‘Baptized in Fire’. ‘Ride the Wings of Hope’ returns us to the pure rock genre, echoing the riff from part one at the end.

‘Cross My Eyes’ features just piano and vocals before final track ‘Reconciliation’ with mournful indigenous sounding wailing closing the album out.

There’s no doubt about it, this is great, epic rock music with a meaningful underlying theme. The guitar, keyboards and bass work are superb, anchored by solid drumming throughout. The choruses care atchy and the key changes work effectively and there are also a few elements of prog there. Go get it.

The Band:

Alessandro Del Vecchio – Vocals, Keyboards

Aldo Lonobile – Guitars

Nik Mazzucconi – Bass

Marco Di Silvia – Drums

Track Listing

1. Where Are You?
2. Water Be My Path
3. Freeing My Will
4. The Last One
5. Love Is the Only Answer
6. Forever’s Unfolding
7. Ritual Pt. I
8. Ritual Pt. II Revert Destiny
9. Ritual Pt. III Taunting Souls
10. Ritual Pt. IV Baptized in Fire
11. Ritual Pt. V Ride the Wings of Hope
12. Ritual Pt. VI Cross My Eyes
13. Ritual Pt. VII Reconciliation