The Edge Of Infinity is the third album from Swiss symphonic rockers Lunatica. I hadn’t heard either of their first two efforts so approached this with interest and less than half way through I had already made a note to get hold of a copy of each of the first two albums as well. 

The album starts rather unusually with a two minute spoken-word introduction by Dieter Meier from Yello, before giving way to the excellent title track. Singer Andrea Datwyler has a slightly understated vocal approach, leaving you thinking there is more to come. You keep expecting the vocals to soar above the melodic background, but she keeps things on a very even keel throughout. 

“Sons Of The Wind” follows and again features some great musicianship – in particular drummer Ronnie Wolf driving the song along in a style very reminiscent of fellow symphonic rockers Rhapsody. 

The superb “Who You Are” follows, highlighting the more melodic side of the band. I think this is the really stand-out track on an album full of really good songs. It was written by Carl Falk and Sebastian Thott who are currently writing for several big name pop acts. The melodic style and quality shines on through following track “Out!”. Next up we have a duet, “Song For You” featuring ex Asia man John Payne, before we return to the more epic, symphonic element with “Together” which features a massive production job from Sascha Paeth and Miro. The whole album is faultlessly produced throughout but really comes into its own on this track. 

“The Power Of Love follows, a power ballad whose intro reminds me of the incidental music from the Lord Of The Rings films. The album rounds off with the epic “Emocean”, kicking off with a killer guitar riff before a vocal performance more usual of the symphonic rock genre with its operatic piques interspersed throughout, before finishing with an excellent instrumental ending. The bonus track is a second version of “Emocean”, this time sang as a duet with the excellent Oliver Hartmann from Avantasia. This is a really good alternative version with the two vocal styles really complementing each other and produced to perfection so that both are crystal clear and given equal weighting in order that neither overpowers the other. 

I really enjoyed this album and would rank this at the very top of the list of female-fronted symphonic rock / metal bands around today that I’ve heard. Datwyler’s vocals are really good and her backing band are all excellent, but the strength of the band comes in the quality of the songwriting, which I feel is way above most of their peers. The album has a bit of everything in terms of style from out-and-out rockers to power ballads to some great symphonic interludes.  I would encourage all fans of the genre to check this out as it is definitely one of the best releases of the year in this field.

Let Us Know Your Views On 'The Edge Of Infinity'

Track List

Introduction
The Edge Of Infinity
Sons Of The Wind
Who You Are; Out!
Song For You
Together
The Power Of Love
Words Unleashed
EmOcean
EmOcean (feat. Oliver Hartmann)

Line Up

Andrea - Vocals
Alex - Keyboards
Emilio - Bass
Andre - Guitars
Sandro - Guitars
Ronnie - Drums