EDGE OF NIGHT (DVD)

It´s easy to understand why Shadowland was never as big as Arena, Clive Nolan´s (of Pendragon fame) other side project. While the quality of the music is clearly high, on Arena Nolan always lent vocal duties to strong singers. Here the man himself takes that place. And live, he literally leaves the keyboards in the hands of the capable guest musician Mike Varty. Surprisingly Nolan does have a good singing voice and a rather good stage presence. However, the very nature of his lyrics calls for a more dramatic, versatile and stronger vocalsit. In other words, his voice is too ´soft´ and ´comfortable` for the kind of dark and broody tales he writes. Somehow they don´t really match, which is really a pity, since the songs themselves are great. Oh, well, I might be wrong, but that´s the feeling I get hearing him live with this band.

The instrumental part of the group on the other hand is pretty good. Guitarrist karl Groom (better known for his work with prog metaller group Threshold) is an excellent musician, even though his style here is pretty different from the one he does with Threshold, which proves he great versatility. New bassist Mark Westwood and original drummer Nick Harradence are not far behind in terms of technique and passion. And when they all have the chance to explore the instrumental breaks on longer songs like Hall Of Mirrors, Dreams Of the Ferryman and Jigsaw, they really show their enormous potential in full glory. Not that the other songs are bad, no. They are all good and catchy, but somehow too short and too song oriented for them to display their skills in full. It wouldn´t work.

The show itself was very professionaly recorded, the sound production is top notch and the images are also excellent.

If you like Shadowland, then this is a must have. If you don´t but like good, melodic prog, this is a nice way to know the group since their perfomances are spotless and, in several cases, actually a little better than their studio versions. My rating may be a little harsh considering the overall quality of the songs and the players involved, but really, I must take in consideration that Nolan has done better jobs in both Arena and Pendragon in my opinion.It´s a matter of taste, really.

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