To deal with AOR, one must have in mind that it was the main successful Rock genre during the late years of the seventies and a great part of the eighties (and even thousands of Glam Metal acts tried to fuse elements of the genre into their music to become commercially acceptable and earn some success). Of course, the genre's predominance was corroded by time and use, and the coming of Grunge Rock/Alternative trend in the beginning of the 90's just made the genre lay to rest for a good time spam. But as the genre came back to life and success during the past 10-15 years, many bands came and are trying their lucky. And EDGE OF THE BLADE is one of them, as their third release, "Distant Shores", shows.

The trio's music is mature, a form of AOR that could be a great success during the AOR age where the genre was supreme on radio programs and MTV. It means that their music bears the trademark sound of the genre (a mix between some aggressive and distorted guitars entwined with very good keyboards parts to boost the musical accessibility, what means that some Pop Music references can be detected). And the musical technique of the band's musicians is in a very good level (especially during the guitar solos), but this feature works in favor of the songs, and it's not the reason of them. So be prepared for a massive blow of accessible and great songs. The sound quality of "Distant Shores" is a mix between modern definition (what boost the musical accessibility of the songs) with the silk and tender instrumental used by the bands in an organic form (maybe one don't know, but for AOR, the most organic and the lesser editions is a demand).

The trio shows a great work on the album, with eleven songs that are hard to resist for fans of the genre. But the silky and groovy approach used on "Killing Me" (that shows a solid work on the rhythms, what means that the playing of bass guitar and drums are really good), the charming accessible melodies shown on "Feel the Fire" (guided by the combination of good keyboards with hooking guitars) and on "Angels Fear to Tread" (the tempos of this one are hard to resists, and what a lovely work from the vocals similar in some moments to Joe Perry), "Lonely to" (a song that could fit perfectly on a AOR album from the 70's due the lovely work on the melodic guitars and keyboards), the high spirited melodies of "Life is for Living", the abrasive modern approach used on "Wait Forever", and the Pop touch heard on "It's the Love" are the best ones to begin with.

Yes, "Distant Shores" can be said as an album that makes the link between the traditional AOR with some modern outfits. And check it out, because EDGE OF THE BLADE really did a very good work on it.