FIRST SIGNAL – Closer to the Edge

Melodic rock with a slick and sophisticated vibe to it is the order of the day here, and as with the outfit’s previous outputs, things are once again spearheaded by The Murder of My Sweet’s Daniel Flores on drums and keyboards and Harem Scarem vocalist Harry Hess. Also, the talented Michael Palace provides rhythm and lead guitars, which is an added bonus. The pristine-sounding production is as polished as they come and the songs all lean toward the AOR records from the 80s that we have come to love. Flores and Hess complement each other quite nicely from a musical perspec­tive, and tracks such as “I Don’t Wanna Feel the Night is Over”, “Show Me the Way”, and the title song are superbly executed and perfectly catchy, but the rest of the material sounds and feels a tad mundane and lacks charisma, vigor, and staying power. The LP is not bad as such and everyone involved in the endeavor can certainly play, but there are only a few compositions here that take off and truly deliver the hooks and the goods, and “Closer to the Edge” ultimately comes across as a mediocre offering.