Album review: EDGE OF FOREVER – Days Of Future Past (Remasters, 3 CD set)

March 9th, 2022 by brianmc

Frontiers [Release date: 11.02.22]

Frontiers’ golden boy, Alessandro Del Vecchio, formed Edge Of Forever in 2004.

The label has now released the band’s back catalogue in a 3 CD, remastered set, titled Days Of Future Past, with a bonus track added to each.

The debut, Feeding The Fire (2004), was produced by Marcel (Talisman) Jacob, which was something of a coup for an unknown band. As was getting Axe vocalist Bob Harris on board.

The songs are standard stuff. Hard edged melodic rock, straying into Deep Purple, Rainbow territory from time to time.

Harris is a class act. He makes a difference. The fact that ‘Feeding The Fire’ and ‘Gates Of Hell’ are the album’s high watermarks is largely down to Harris’s ability to turn an ordinary lyric into something meaningful.

Perhaps even moreso, that notion applies also to ballad, ‘The Road We Walked On’. Harris wrings maximum effect out of a familiar sentiment, while Jacob dresses it in guitar and piano finery. Both doing what they do best. ***

The band found another gear on Let The Demon Rock’n'Roll, the follow up album, released a year later.

Axe’s Bobby Barth took over production duties. Any metal vestiges have been expunged and the focus is well and truly on Melodic (hard) Rock and AOR.

Bob Harris is again on vocals, his voice swoops and soars through ‘The Machine’, and ‘Feel Like Burning’, pulled along by a funky undertow. The band were truly hitting their stride now.

‘One Last Surrender’, ‘In My Eyes’ and a fabulous ballad, ‘Deep Emotion’ are glorious slices of AOR, magnifying the qualities – urgency, a sense of anticipation – enjoyed by the best stuff that came out of the eighties. ***1/2

Four years later, Del Vecchio put together a new band with the Edge Of Forever name. They recorded and released Another Paradise in 2009.

In a bold, confident move, Del Vecchio wrote all the songs and handled all the lead vocals.

If it wasn’t for a couple of misfires here, you could have argued this was the best of the 3.

It was a shrewd move by Del Vecchio to bring in Carsten Schultz and Bob Harris to duet with him on ‘Edge Of Life’ and ‘What I’ve Never Seen’… the album standouts by a considerable distance.

Coming close behind, ‘Distant Voices’ and ‘Against The Wall’ saw the band resurrect their melodic metal tendencies, indicating the direction of follow up album to come, Seminole, in 2022. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Josh Taerk Sunday Sessions 2024

Next session: Sunday 29 September

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 8 September 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 10 September 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 16 September 2024

THE NOW Special Kind Of Stupid (indie)
NEW MONARCH Paper Noose (indie)
AD INFINITUM Surrender (Napalm Records)
KROOKED TONGUE Nothing Ever Grows (indie)
TRUCKER DIABLO Show Me The Way (Big Unit Records)

Featured Albums w/c 16 September 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)