AT THE EDGE OF LIGHT

Earlier this year, the legendary ex-guitar player of Genesis, Steve Hackett, released his 26th studio album, named as At the Edge of Light. Having enjoyed his two previous works Wolflight and The Night Siren (but mostly Wolflgiht), I didn't hesitate at all! I don't know how to describe it, but this album begins where the previous ones stopped. It is more or less in the same style, but in my opinion is better than both of them. Steve Hackett (as it seems), decided that the style of music he wants to play is this; Progressive Rock with lots of Ethnic influences, and many soft melodic turns. He gave us a first idea of that style with ' the very good ' Wolflight, he went a step back with The Night Siren, and now it was the time for the killing blow! And that blow came with the release of At the Edge of Light. To be honest, I wasn't so hopeful after The Night Siren, and that's why I caught by surprise. I still cannot believe how good this album is!

Steve Hackett managed to 'marry' his very rich Progressive Rock heritage with tunes from - mostly - Anatolian traditional music, and the result is simply breathtaking! Of course, the cherry on the cake is his top-notch guitar performance, but that's not a surprise.

The listener gets a first idea of what's going to follow with the 2-minute-long Fallen Walls and Pedestrals, that works as the album's intro. And then comes Beasts in our Time, one of the album's finest moments without a doubt. But the album's absolute highlight is (in my opinion) the 11-minute-long, Those Golden Wings, which, constantly shifts between gentle rhythms, orchestral backed vocals to a real ear-worm of a riff, to a Carmina Burana-esque choral section to be finally resolved with a three minute guitar solo.

At the Edge of Light includes 10 tracks, and to be honest, to only one that I do not like (yet), is Shadow and Flame, because of its strong Indian influences that were never my cup of tea. I do not wish to continue writing more things, because there is no point doing that. If you take a look around the internet, read the reviews for this album, and even better, listen to it, you will understand why everybody's talking about it.

For me, this is a wonderful album, that shines above most albums that has been released during these last years. As for Steve Hackkett, I believe that it is one of his best works ever! Not paying attention to this album would be a huge mistake! My Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5.0)

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