martindavey87 Eternity X are a band I have highly ridiculed and mocked in the past. Most notably for the fact that their previous albums, 'Zodiac' and 'Mind Games' take themselves way too seriously, which itself, wouldn't really be much of a problem, if the music wasn't so boring and uninspiring. Oddly however, while 'The Edge' isn't really any different stylistically or lyrically (other than a stronger presence of keyboards), it's an album I thoroughly enjoy.

Must be the keyboards, right?

Main songwriter and all-round focal point of the band, Keith Sudano, has clearly put his heart and soul into this record. The music is well composed, with plenty of ambitious tracks and intricate passages, as well as some very personal and emotional lyrics. The musicianship is tight, with the usual progressive metal traits all here in full force, such as long track durations, interesting guitar riffs, crazy time signatures and a vast use of different sounds. There's plenty of instrumental acrobatics allowing for everyone to shine ('The Edge Part 3' is an interesting example of this) and there's a strong symphonic element to the music too.

Some of the highlights from this album include 'Imaginarium', 'The Edge of Madness', 'The Confession', 'Baptized by Fire', and parts two, three and the "Legacy Reprise" section of 'The Edge'. The album is consistently strong from start to finish.

'The Edge' is an ambitious release that will certainly take some time to get into, but will be worth the effort. It's funny that I like it as much as I do, since it's nothing overly different than what had come before, but there's just something here that resonates with me. It's a shame that Eternity X would go on to disband and Keith Sudano would take a leave of absence from music, because for all the flack I've given this band for their previous releases, this really is a brilliant album, and could have led to great things if they'd continued down this path.

cold103 At this time, this is one of my favorite albums. It's one of the most underrated albums that I've heard if not the most underrated. It seems it's great in every way. There are great vocal melodies, yet it's not over the top or cheesy. The vocals are emotional, which is good in this context. In music, I think the thing that matters most to me is composure, that everything in the piece of music makes sense or connects with at least one other part of the piece more or less. It's certainly not how difficult it is to play things like solos. I don't care about how hard it is to play anything because extremely difficult things to play can easily sound bad. Perhaps that bit is obvious. Anyway, I think the composure of The Edge is great. Pain of Salvation fans must check this album out! In my honest (as always) opinion, it's better than any Dream Theater album.