The Edge

Eternity X seem to have forever sunk beneath the ashes they claimed to be from on their utterly unanticipated, unexpected and unacknowledged Y2K release. But before this bleak and inevitable leap into oblivion, they had actually successfully created quite the stir in the prog/power underground. Formed simply as Eternity by frontman Keith Sudano in New Jersey around the late '80's, they built their name upon their unwavering ambition and threatening dexterity. Their earliest offerings "The Never Ending Dream" and "...After The Silence" combined conventional metal-isms with grandiose and ambitious displays of layering and delivery. 1995's "Mind Games" was their pièce de résistance. A bold and darkly concept work with tones of texture and atmosphere. At this point, they became Eternity X and made "The Edge", a sort of balance between their high ambition and their tendency to depreciate.

The first thing that strikes you about "The Edge" is its sheer girth. The songs have large meaningful titles and they seem to run on infinitely. The keyboards are a maximum feature and glide with invasive indiscretion. Keith Sudano wails and moans his way through it all, over-singing his heart out while the drumming courtesy of one Jimmy Peruta permeates every pore of this musical jungle with equal grace and the very lack of. Yes, it is an ambitious record. Yes, it is cinematic in scope. Yes, it is undeniably undoubtedly progressive (hail it from the rooftops, HEY!). Yes, the band Yes was an influence and yes, it is a tiresome and overwhelming experience trudging through it casually. That right there is the biggest fault in "The Edge" and Eternity X as a whole. They seem to need to tire you out before they get to the point - or perhaps that's the point. They cascade, weave, interweave, emphasize, diminish and clutter the fuck out of everything until the song desperately creeps out and gets away from them. Yes used to do that back in the '70's but Yes was so charming and inimitable about it that they ended up setting a precedent. A glittering example of this agony that Eternity X rewards the patient listener with is "The Edge Part 3 (Existence Chapter 1.000.000.9)" where would-have been brilliant USPM-ish riff passages shimmer in the distance, never reaching home, while magnanimous but ultimately hollow keyboard passages set to the clunking of the dim bass and the haughty ejaculations of Sudano, frontman extraordinaire take center stage.

It would seem like a terrible record but it actually isn't. Eternity X were a hell of a band. They had the virtuosity this music required in spades and their passion and exuberance was unmistakable. Things just tended to get disjointed and there was always something inexplicably anticlimactic about it all. "Why can't I be happy?" Keith Sudano screams at us at one point and I think the answer is probably because they tweaked too much and were never content with simplicity- the heart of the song is as dense as its base. Penetration becomes impossible. Enjoyment rendered severe.

But the beauty of this thing can't be passed over. The songs are large yes, but they're not clumsy. There's that Crimson Glory/Queensryche/Heir Apparent gracefulness that Eternity X also operates with. The riffing is tastefully layered and and accentuated in all the right places; scorching licks tear off blazing keyboard cycles and deliciously dynamic rhythms play off brilliantly against each other. Keith Sudano is a phenomenal singer with an admirable range capable of calmly communicating rage without shrillness in that way that white-collar PM frontmen have and dropping into a somber and emotive reverie every now and then. He channels Geddy Lee and contemporaries like Ray Alder at whim and then retreats to uncharacteristic enunciation unique to only him.

The music is also varied even when at its densest. "Rejection" is a thrash monster carried to absurd Iced Earth peaks with simple driving riffing then torn apart brilliantly with rousing keys. "Fly Away" dazzles in the old fashioned sense with its train of melodies and guiding bass, tipping the hat to Yes, Kansas, Journey and all the other more anthem driven proggers. It ultimately sounds like a song off Dream Theater's "When Dream And Day Unite" except it sounds warmer and much more genial. That chorus is a charming, happy and hopeful ditty and the main guitar solo is sheer rock godliness. They would have done well with this as a single - edited, of course ad commercialized for radio airplay. But this came out at the time when prog was answered by a blank and uncomprehending look from the mainstream and Eternity X didn't really seem like the lot to wash out their noodling for the sake of FM radio. "Imaginarium" is my favorite of them all because of its initial gentle air and thoughtful lyricism/imagery that lay down a path for some of the most cutting riffing any prog band could ever exhibit. It is the sound of Eternity X at their finest - nimble and sophisticated, using simplicity to accentuate their many complexities and brazenly metal to the finish. "The Confession" shamelessly copies the shape and form of "Suite Sister Mary" and succeeds in being more ambitious but fails at being as necessary. However, its operatic stance is further emphasized on "The Edge Part 2: The Looking Glass" which is a triumph from start to finish.

Eternity X play with agreeable pomp and cultured indelicateness. The principle seems to be the metallic one; to shake the walls and make the worlds listen and indeed their cluttered dense arrangements do seem to fill up all comfortable space. Even at their most unstomachable, they come off as hungry and deliberate. "The Edge" is thusly a choice cut if you've found progressive metal to be rather mechanical and workmanlike and are looking for something more unhinged and dramatic yet one that retains the qualities of tastefulness and sophistication.