ICE

Both Edith and their leader Mario Gulisano were living a prolific and creative period, entering the 90's.Gulisano worked simultaneously with keyboardist Salvo Condorelli on a more New Age path with his side project Atmo, releasing a self-titled cassette on Edith Music in 1990.At the same time his main band welcomes a new stable member, keyboardist Tony Brunzo, and works around a second album begin.Celebrating the CD reissue of their debut on Progressive Records, the Italians eventually put on market their sophomore effort ''Ice'' in 1991, the first CD on their own Edith Music.

With ''Ice'' not much has changed regarding Edith's style, which remains a pretty safe and lyrical Neo Prog, close to MARILLION's sound circa ''Clutching at straws'', but lacking the depth and inner power of the Scottish band.Most of the tracks are long, 7 minutes or longer, but do not expect any instrumental diversity.All pieces are based on atmospheric passages with plenty of vocals, but the thin keyboards and soft piano lines next to the otherwise smooth guitar plays bury the attempts of the band to come up with something trully interesting.Additionally memorable melodies are also absent and the only thing really shining through is Gulisano's emotional singing, very much in a STEVE HOGARTH style.To say the thruth the first half of the album is rather forgettable with mediocre material and downtempo arrangements, extremely led by lyrical moments and lacking instrumental power.Fortunately the second half contains some good moments, like the tracks ''Life'' and ''Dimmer'' with their nice choruses and the interesting melodious textures, although even them are too calm to completely catch the listener's attention.

To my ears Edith were always a band hidden behind secure and non-risky material, stepping on MARILLION grounds, but without having the talent of their main influence.''Ice'' is material written exclusively for Neo Prog buffs.End of story...2.5 stars.