Edge Of The Blade are the English trio that impressed with their 2015 debut on Escape Music. Here they are five years later with their second release. This time signed to Lion’s Pride Music out of Denmark.
Written by: gdmonlune
ARTIST: Edge Of The Blade
ALBUM: Feels Like Home
LABEL: Lion’s Pride Music
SERIAL: LPM075
YEAR: 2020
CD INFO: Discogs Info List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: John Francis – lead & backing vocals * Alan Kelly – all instruments, backing vocals * Andrew Chick – guitars
Additional Musicians: Catherine Francis – additional backing vocals (#1) * Danny Beardsley – additional guitar solos (#3, #6, #8)
TRACK LISTING: 01 Santa Carla * 02 Lonely Life * 03 Falling For You * 04 Feels Like Home * 05 Don’t Leave Me Now * 06 Yes It Hurts * 07 Never Needed Love * 08 End Well * 09 I’m OK * 10 Worth Fighting For
RATING: 80/100
WEBLINKS: FB Page
Edge Of The Blade Background
Edge Of The Blade are the English trio that impressed with their 2015 debut on Escape Music. Here they are five years later with their second release, this time signed to Lion’s Pride Music out of Denmark. As before, the two principal members of the trio are Alan Kelly (refer Shy) and John Francis, (refer After Hours).
The third member is a pretty valuable addition as well, being guitarist Andrew Chick. He also acts as the sound engineer for the band. Going back to that debut ‘The Ghosts Of Humans’, that was quite a heavy album compared to this one.
It’s as if Edge Of The Blade have opened the blinds and let some light into the studio. The difference is (excuse the pun) like comparing night to day. So what to make of it then?
The Songs
We mentioned it in our previous review how John Francis has invoked his inner Steve Perry, and on this album it’s more pronounced. Fantastic I say.
You can hear this comparison on the opening ‘Santa Clara’ (check the video below). Next up is ‘Lonely Life’ incorporating a distinctly American influence. You could throw a blanket over the likes of Dakota and Pride Of Lions. That’s surely a good thing.
Falling For You’ meanwhile is an edgy tune with some modern traces. The title track ‘Feels Like Home’ is a piano dominated ballad with vista like qualities. This has Journey like appeal during their Steve Augeri years.
‘Don’t Leave Me Now’ assumes a darker vibe, and offers something different on the album as a change-up. ‘Yes It Hurts’ reads like a painful lyrical account but musically this is reasonably bright all things considered.
Francis decides to turn on the Perry afterburners on ‘Never Needed Love’, maybe equivalent to something from Perry’s solo discography.
Reaching into the back-end of the album now. ‘End Well’ is full of melodic energy played at a good clip too. This is one of my preferred tracks. You would hope that if Steve Perry ever manages to make it back to hard rock heaven, then a track like this might be a template.
The last two tracks ‘I’m OK’ and ‘Worth Fighting For’ keep things ticking over till the end. The latter track is full of super harmony vocals which retains much of the bright sunny aspects of the album.
In Summary
I like this album a lot. Edge Of The Blade are not as cookie-cutter as many of the current crop of releases. The production is crisp, the use of synths gives it a bit of colour.
In parts the album takes on a Pride Of Lions meets Journey vibe. That is if you exclude the obvious vocal strengths of the former band. Vocally of course, the Steve Perry’isms will have Journey fans thinking about giving this album a whirl. And why shouldn’t you?
Edge Of The Blade on Video
Santa Carla
Album Sampler
Click to go to YTM album page.
