CHOICE STILL BELONGS TO YOU: Edge of Paradise – Martyr (Monster)
Perception is all that matters in the digital age. Your opinions are irrelevant until you find someone that shares them. Your ideas are insignificant unless you held them first. And your beliefs are inconsequential until you can prove your integrity by broadcasting it to the world. However, hard rock visionaries, Edge of Paradise, reject this system by reclaiming their own identities and thinking for themselves.
Edge of Paradise have been carving out their own corner of music since 2011, having performed in over 30 countries with 6 studio albums. The band is comprised of Margarita Monet (vocals and keyboard), Dave Bates (lead guitar), Jamie Moreno (drums), Kenny Lockwood (bass), Doug Weiand (rhythm guitar), and latest addition, Alex Nasla (keyboard).
Their most recent album, Prophecy (2025), confronts the future where technology has surpassed its creators with thought-provoking lyrics and human vulnerability. Track 8 – Martyr (Monster) – is accompanied by a sensational new music video, directed by Julian Oyanedel Santiesteban and Margarita Monet, that explores this conflict in an immersive science-fiction setting.
The environments shift between a desert landscape and minimalist spaceship, reflecting the distinction between authenticity and artificial intelligence. We are introduced to each side’s respective champion: a red-haired warrior adorned in a bronze chestplate draped in cyan fabric, and her enemy, clad in torn black sleeves, metal embellishments up to her chin, and a fierce sword to match. Transitionally, it glitches between the two, blurring the lines between martyr and monster. During the bridge, we see a fight break out, scored by an explosive instrumental, which takes place on the otherworldly plain. Despite the two dimensions, both parties know the real world is the one worth fighting for, so it is ours to defend. We can only be conquered if we allow ourselves to be.
The lyrics explore a difficult relationship, one of co-dependency, but a knowledge that it can’t continue – mirroring our own reliance on technology. The speaker is leaving the artificial world behind – abandoning their partner – whether it makes them a monster or not. Reputation cannot be a factor of decision-making when we write our own legacies. They will carry the burden of that title because it holds no weight. Leaving before you are left does not make you a villain nor monster; it means you are experienced and unafraid to walk to the beat of your own drum. However, within that, there is still a layer of insecurity, revealed in the post-chorus, which asks ‘Am I enough for you?’. Although witnessing them go to war with each other, the video concludes with the two adversaries kneeling, facing each other. Mercy is a distinctly human quality, as is the ability to choose it.
‘To one I am the martyr. To another I am the monster. You choose which outcome becomes your reality. History will remember what remains. Awareness is the first act of freedom. Choice still belongs to you.’
You can watch the music video for Martyr (Monster) on Edge of Paradise’s official YouTube Channel HERE, as well as listen to the whole album HERE.