Edge of Thorns

Edge of Thorns, the seventh album, came out on Atlantic in the United States on 6 April 1993 (the CD is 7 82488-2); East West Japan issued it on 25 May as AMCY-545. Jon Oliva had stepped down as lead singer in 1992 because of trouble with his voice, but he stayed on to write and record and helped Criss Oliva and Paul O'Neill choose a new singer, as the official site tells it. The old official FAQ says Zak Stevens was chosen on the strength of demos by his Boston band Wicked Witch and an audition for O'Neill and Criss. O'Neill produced, with Jon and Criss credited as co-producers; Jim Morris and Tom Morris engineered, and Greg Calbi mastered it at Sterling Sound. The title song became the band's first hit on American rock radio, the official site says, and reached number 26 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. In 2010 Jon said that "All That I Bleed" and "Miles Away" were the last songs he, Criss and Paul wrote together and his favourites on the album, in earMUSIC's notes. According to the old official FAQ, the woman on the sleeve is Criss's wife Dawn, painted by Gary Smith. Videos were made for the title song and for "Sleep", the band's first acoustic ballad. Six months after the release, on 17 October 1993, Criss was killed when a drunk driver hit his car, and this became the last album he lived to complete. "Shotgun Innocence", one of the bonus tracks on the Japanese edition, was the last song he recorded, as the band's old official timeline notes. The album reached number 23 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and number 79 in Germany, where the 2022 reissue went to 15. The running order here is the original's as printed.