Artist: Sandalinas Album: Living On The Edge Label: Nightmare Records Website: http://www.sandalinas.com Reviewer: Paulo André

Track List: 01. Living On The Edge 02. All Along The Everglades 03. The Ritual Of Truth 04. Follow Me 05. If It Wasn’t For You 06. The Day The Earth Died 07. The Conqueror 08. Heaven In You 09. Back In Time 10. Die Hard Sandalinas is a project named after composer/guitarist Jordi Sandalinas, hailing from Barcelona, Spain by way of Sweden. "Living On The Edge" is the band's 2005 debut album and perhaps we should start by stating what you will not find on this album. You will not find much, if anything, in the way of prog. You will not find experimentation. You will not find anything particularly groundbreaking or earth shattering. What you will find, however, is classic hard rock and heavy metal, complete with the obligatory ballads. Sandalinas don't take many risks and the strategy pays off in a way, considering this is a very concise and well done record. Despite this being the debut album, Sandalinas is actually comprised of experienced musicians so it's not like this is a shot in the dark. There's shades of Whitesnake, Pink Cream 69, Savatage/Circle II Circle and even a dash of Maiden and Black Sabbath, to be sure. Jordi Sandalinas, at some point in his early years, actually left the piano, in which he started aged 9, picking up the guitar instead just because he was so inspired by the playing of Maiden's Adrian Smith on records like "Powerslave" and "Live After Death". As for the record itself, "Living On The Edge" is a short yet varied album, lasting just under 40 minutes but still managing to deliver a mixture of powerful high-octane songs like the openers "Living On The Edge" and "All Along The Everglades" and slower stuff like the beautiful "The Day The Earth Died" and the melancolic "Heaven In You", a simple and soothing tune. The centerpiece "The Conqueror" is probably the strongest track on the album as Sandalinas seem to work better in fifth gear, "Back In Time" being another excellent example. There's also some real clunkers like closer "Die Hard", its poppish flowery rhythm unfortunately standing out for all the wrong reasons. A case should be made for Jordi Sandalinas fantastic restrain as there are hardly any guitar solos at all (major exception being the fantastic "The Conqueror" but the song pretty much asks for it). I'm sure other players would surely have taken a different route. In this case, I think the album benefits from this approach, as the songs are more rhythm driven. Vocalist Apollo Papathanasio is also a perfect fit for the music, reminding me of Zak Stevens (Savatage, Circle II Circle). Sonically, this is a solid album, produced by King Diamond's guitarist Andy LaRocque (who also plays in a couple of tracks), the only apparent flaw being that the lead guitar would benefit from being a little louder in spots. All in all, metal traditionalists will be right at home here. Others will have at least a couple of satisfying songs, but probably only in small doses and for medicinal purposes. Band: Apollo Papathanasio - Vocals Jordi Sandalinas - Guitars Victor "Victory" - Guitars Fran Duarte - Bass Daniel Moilanen - Drums