Livin' On the Edge, the new album from Australian hard rockers Unwed Sailor, may seem a pretty straightforward concept when looked at from a cursory glance. The band, featuring frontman, lead guitarist and main songwriter, Chris Ross, on vocals and acoustic guitar, bassist, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Chris Graham, drummer Dave Atkins and a trio of guests who lend their voices to three songs – two of them reworked versions of old songs and one brand new – has been released on the band's new label, Redline Records (home of heavy rock band, Saving Grace) after a couple of unsuccessful releases on other labels. Yet, closer inspection of these songs reveals so much more to the story. The first of the previously recorded songs, the seven-minute epic 'A New Kind Of Blues', starts with almost no overdubs to give a raw quality to the performance, but when taken further into the album reveals another story that the band has written over it to tie it all together. It also seems, from the lyrical content, that 'A New Kind Of Blues' may be about suicide in the context of its lyrics: I think it's something in my mind, but I can't explain it. As I think it's something only I can do. But I think there's something in my mind that I can't explain. That might drive you to this world, I can't figure out. I hear a call and I'm calling out my name. Now it's getting hard to live my life alone. But this life just passes me by, when I know what it is that I need to do. So I won't wait for the end to fall, it'll be you and me. I'll take my gun and shoot you dead. Take my gun and shoot you dead. This track is full of atmosphere and emotion, yet its simplicity speaks volumes about its complexity and the journey of these songs: the band writing, the singer recording it, the producer creating a space in the song for the singer's voice, and then the singer writing over his vocal so that it tells its own story about their lives and what they think they need. One thing is clear, these are not simple lyrics. The simple meaning of the words mask an even more complex and subtle emotional world that, not only does the song contain, but they carry throughout the rest of the album. When you listen to 'Life Is So Beautiful', for example, it seems like a fairly downbeat song at first with its lyrics about suicide, but then the complexity of the song turns it on its head and makes it feel like a song from two different bands. This song plays on two emotions at once: first there is the sense of loss the singer talks about in the chorus, but in an almost throwaway reference that it is 'just words in a song' with a reference to the 'tongue of someone like me' and that 'if I could it would just turn to words again'. Yet the music is like that of an 80s pop hit song. Perhaps the singer is in fact someone who does feel the emotion behind the lyrics, but the way the singer sings the lyric also hides the fact that he may or may not, even in his own mind, be feeling that emotion. The song feels like a song from an indie band that is trying to make its sound interesting, but fails because it just sounds too cheesy. Instead, what it sounds like is like a band from the 70s or 80s. There is that sense of energy, yet in trying to do a pop song that sounds like something from their time, it sounds just too much like a copy. The other side of the emotional coin of this song is seen in its opening line, the lyric 'I need to have another look at life'. With the lyrics preceding that phrase – 'The way you say goodbye, the smile on your face, I feel like a fool – in line with this whole section of lyrics, the band clearly understands how songs have the ability to reflect and affect the moods of their listeners in a way that words cannot. These are powerful, emotional songs for one reason or another. And while the rest of the album is a bit of a roller coaster ride of emotions – it takes us to love, to passion, to violence and to despair in a way that reflects both the story of the songs and the journey of their singer – it is a journey towards death. Perhaps a more accurate way of describing it is that it shows the two sides of death: that you can live through it, or you can die through it. The album title, I'm Living On The Edge, which is one of several songs that tells the story of the singer's life, but it is also a song title that describes the feeling the listener gets from the album. The album is certainly one that makes you feel alive by providing a range of emotions. When, for example, the song 'I Can't Stand It' starts with the lyrics 'It hurts me now, but I'm gonna smile, the tears are flowing', it's a feeling of hope – that it doesn't hurt that much – but it is also in that 'I need to find somebody to stand by me' line that the listener hears the song title's echo in the listener's mind and hears the sense of desperation behind the lyric. That desperation, and how it may also lead to suicide – or can lead to suicide – is what this album covers so well. It is a theme throughout the album as if the band are saying to the listener that it's not only suicide that takes away the ability to 'stand by yourself', but that it is the same when those around you stand on their own two feet without you and you feel you can't stand it – that's suicide as well. Yet the band also shows that no matter how hard things get, you need to be true to yourself and in the end, it's possible to 'stand by yourself' even if the situation may not be great. I'm Living On The Edge is a collection of songs that are full of hope and emotion yet also have a sense of desolation and resignation that can be felt in the very sense of this album. The songs themselves are full of hope, the emotions and stories within them full of emotion that at times also show an emotional despair which speaks volumes of the songwriter's state of mind. The songs themselves are not simply great songs that showcase a band doing exactly what they are meant to be doing. They are filled with emotions that will remain in the mind of the listener long after the last track has played. There is sadness in them, but they also have moments of incredible hope that are more real and realising than one may think. It's a record that is in the end both beautiful and moving and yet something that is at the same time a journey to hell, but one that has moments of hope that pull you back. I'm Living On The Edge is a great record for fans of any kind of music that has emotion in its story, yet it is for those who love songs where the words have the ability to impact you as a listener. I'm Living On The Edge is available as a digital download from the band's MySpace and Facebook pages, and as a name your price download from the official Redline Records website. This album was also recently released in a limited edition box set, which is highly recommended. This is the only place the record is available in a deluxe edition, as the album is not available on CD at the moment, however the deluxe edition is available in digital download format from the band's MySpace page and Facebook page.