Symphony X, Edge Of Paradise @ Islington Assembly Hall, 17.09.2024

Edge Of Paradise brought the most amazing positive energy to Islington Assembly Hall. Margarita Monet greeted the crowd full of gratitude and mentioned that they nearly didn’t make the show. Hailing from the Sunshine Sate of California, their mix of melodic and industrial metal coupled with Margarita’s powerhouse vocals created an electric atmosphere. Margarita is a magnetic frontwoman, her impressive vocal range and soulful delivery allows her to command the audience and make any sceptic into an instant fan. 

Edge of Paradise

Their set focused on their recent album ‘Hologram’ released back in 2023 and opened with ‘Soldiers of Paradise’ followed by the title track ‘Hologram’ and ‘Dark’. They played their new single ‘Rogue (Aim For The Kill)’, which went down great with the crowd. They finished the set with crowd pleasing favourites from their 2021 release ‘The Unknown’, artwork for which decorated the side of the stage behind the lead guitarist. 

Judging from the level of band merch in the audience, the crowd was there predominantly for Symphony X, but Edge of Paradise had them in the palms of their hands and warmed everyone perfectly for the headliner. 

Symphony X

The crowd were beyond excited to welcome Symphony X and judging from the mixture of accents I heard in the front row alone, people have come from far and wide to see them. Symphony X emerged onto the smoke-covered stage one by one to the intro of ‘Iconoclast’, the title track from their 2011 most commercially successful album. They were greeted with a sea of hand-shaped X-es and Mexican waves. 

Their neo-classical progressive metal was the perfect backdrop to vocalist’s Russell Allen’s showmanship, leaning into the themes of strength and display of power. The setlist was a journey through all their albums and featured all the crowd pleasers like ‘Nevermore’, ‘Inferno (Unleash The Fire)’ and ‘Without You’. 

The audience could not get enough of Symphony X and they came out for three encores, leading with ‘Paradise Lost’ and finishing the set of to the thunderous ‘Sea of Lies’ from their 1996 seminal album ‘The Divine Wings of Tragedy’, which allowed all band members to show off their impressive musicianship.