Label: AFM Records
Release date: 8/28/2020
Production: Redemption
Album length: 96.04 min
Genre: Progressive Metal
Rating: 9.0/10
If you’re a fan of properly bristling progressive metal cut to the American recipe, then you know Redemption very well. Bands like this simply aren’t made anymore. Two years ago they put out their seventh studio album »Long Night’s Journey Into Day«, the first with new singer Tom Englund, who is otherwise the boss of the Swedish progressive metal fortress Evergrey. Englund joined the band as a replacement for Ray Alder, who had held the role in Redemption since 2004 but had to leave the band for good because of his ramped-up activity with Fates Warning.
This year Redemption were invited back to play the ProgPower festival in Atlanta, USA, since their first official live document »Frozen In The Moment« (2009) came out of that very festival, where they had already played before. But this time there was one big difference: on 9/7/2018 they took on the role of festival headliner. As for »Long Night’s Journey Into Day« – which, by the way, is an excellent new album, full of fresh ideas and superior twists, and on which Englund proved himself a brilliant vocal solution – the band naturally pushed it hard in the selection of songs in their live set. The album had come out a good month before the Atlanta show and was still “piping hot”. Along with the change of singer, the band also brought keyboardist Vikram Shankar back into the fold for the first time since 2011, after Englund recommended him to Redemption boss and guitarist Nick Van Dyk. So the band has grown into a sextet again, even though physically it’s a quintet. You have to count that Redemption still list guitarist Bernie Versailles among their members, even though he hasn’t been able to perform with them since 2014 because of an aneurysm (a bleed in part of the brain). The famous guitarist, who played Slovenia twice with the cult American speed metallers Agent Steel (K4 – 1/30/2000, Orto bar – 4/5/2005), will very likely never be able to perform again. But it’s a sign of respect from the band that they keep an honorary spot for him in the lineup.
Let’s get down to business. Put simply, Redemption are a great band. In every respect. Both in terms of the body of work – seven albums released – and the perfectionism they bring to their live shows. Nothing can go wrong. The playing and the performance are fantastic. You have to keep in mind that Redemption aren’t a typical progressive metal band; they’re more a kind of metal-solid, bristling “relic” that builds its vocabulary on the achievements of the old school of American speed and heavy metal, so the band will at the very least be a must-like for all Fates Warning fans. At the same time, they technically upgrade that old American approach to metal and bring in moments comparable to Dream Theater’s approach. Yep. Redemption are complex in everything. Sharpened, extremely fast, precise, abrasive, honed. In other words, metal that can also be very dark and feel downright doomed. No planting flowers, no outbursts of saccharine pathos. Englund’s vocals can be a striking creator of the melancholy and anxiety that permeates Evergrey’s music, and in the setting Redemption offer, which calls for something distinctly dramatic, his voice couldn’t find its place any better.
This live document also comes with a few surprises. Guest spots. The most thrilling moment here is the stage arrival of former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, who joins in for the song Indulge in Color, and the band delights the crowd even more when Poland extends his stay on stage and, right after Indulge in Color, the group tears into the Megadeth classic Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? with him. That was the first time since 1987 that Poland played this classic on stage. In Threads, Ray Alder jumps on stage for a vocal duet, which in a way symbolizes his farewell to Redemption. The same song is added to the second CD in another version. As a bonus. Here the roles are reversed, and Englund jumps on stage as a guest back when Alder was still the Redemption frontman. Tacked onto the end of the second CD as a second bonus is yet another version of Indulge in Colour, featuring Italian guitar virtuoso Simone Mularoni of DGM, who was on the road with Redemption on the joint tour supporting the album at the time.
»Alive In Color« is an excellent new live document from these Los Angeles progressive metal standouts. The band has obviously also moved under the wing of a new label, AFM Records, and Englund also connected Van Dyk with Danish producer Jacob Hansen. In short. Things fell into the right place and came together brilliantly. The new live document is a reflection of the band’s new era, as they stand on the threshold of a fresh creative chapter. They crowned it with their latest studio album – the first with vocalist Tom Englund (Evergrey) – and this superb live document confirms it. Honestly, you couldn’t have expected anything else from such a seasoned, battle-hardened band.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
DVD/Blu-ray:
01 – Intro / Noonday Devil
02 – The Suffocating Silence
03 – The Echo Chamber
04 – Damaged
05 – Someone Else’s Problem
06 – Little Men
07 – Long Night’s Journey Into Day
08 – Threads (feat. Ray Alder)
09 – Black & White World
10 – Indulge In Color (feat. Chris Poland)
11 – Walls
+ extras
2-CD:
CD1:
1 Intro / Noonday Devil
2 The Suffocating Silence
3 The Echo Chamber
4 Damaged
5 Someone Else’s Problem
6 Little Men
7 Long Night’s Journey Into Day
CD2:
1 Threads (feat. Ray Alder)
2 Black & White World
3 Indulge In Color (feat. Chris Poland)
4 Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? (feat. Chris Poland)
5 Walls
6 Threads (feat. Tom Englund)
7 Indulge In Color (feat. Simone Mularoni)
Lineup:
Tom Englund – vocals
Nick Van Dyk – guitar
Vikram Shankar – keyboards
Sean Andrews – bass guitar
Chris Quirarte – drums
