DEATH OF THE RED MASQUE

The Red Masque is a US outfit based in Philadelphia and formed in early 2001 under the force of bassist Brandon Lord Ross and female singer Lynette Shelley.Immediately the band had a good impact performing at the Prelude of the 2001 NEARFest and releasing a self-produced CD-R under the title ''Death of the Red Masque'' the same year, featuring also Nathan-Andrew Dewin on keyboards and harp, Kevin Kelly on drums and Steven Blumberg on guitars.

The opening 11-min. Tidal kicks off with some nightmare music.Bass, guitars and piano dissonances are mixed with dark chant-like vocals before the track finally takes some shape.Still the bass riffs are complex, the guitar playing pretty disharmonic and the drums have a marching sound all the way, while Shelley's voice has a very haunting operatic color.Obscure and really hard to get into Avant/RIO-esque prog.''Ended Ways'' clocks at 10 minutes and the first half is dedicated to dark, cinematic and abstract Avant soundscapes based on a doomy atmosphere.The second half though holds some more interest, having a slight KING CRIMSON vibe under a steady groove with distorted guitars and synths on the background till the final notes.The centerpiece of this short release though is the 13-min. '' A Moon Falls''.Another atmospheric intro with soft electric guitars will lead to some great series of symphonic organ-based sections with some pretty nice guitars surrounding and a dynamic rhythm section.The outro holds also some great melody coming out of Blumberg's guitar chords with a light /GENESISYES influence and Shelley eventually adding some sensitivity in her voice.

This is an album getting from full dissonant pieces of music to quite well-structured arrangements as it unfolds,the later being of more interest to my ears.The originality of the sound makes me eagerly keep an eye on The Red Masque and I really wonder how a unique experience it would be to follow this band on a live show.Warmly recommended, even more if you are into obscure dark Avant-Prog.

The Red Masque are a spooky RIO band in the tradition of Univers Zero, who put their own unique spin on that band's complex chamber prog sound by including a talented female vocalist (Lynette Shelley) and including the odd musical influence from the likes of mid-1970s King Crimson and just the lightest sprinkling of more melodic symphonic prog influences to make things a bit more approachable. As well as providing a clever rearrangement of the name of a famous Edgar Allen Poe story, The Death of the Red Masque also offers just over half an hour of the band's intense musical vision. Props have to go to bassist Brandon Ross, whose highly technical playing makes him an important presence in the mix.

I decided on a final rating of 4 stars for The Red Masque's debut release. I was torn between 3 and 4 stars, but decided that Death of the Red Masque deserved the extra star for its uniqueness. The Red Masque are an experimental progressive rock band with their own sound. Although I haven't read any interviews with the band, it's clear to these ears and my fellow reviewers that Larks' Tongues in Aspic vintage King Crimson is the starting reference point. A lot of The Red Masque's atmospheric music does indeed, as Warthur suggests, sound like it would fit very well in a horror movie.

This difficult music is very well-played; it's clear that these are musicians with a lot of experience. Lynette Shelley uses her dramatic alto voice very skillfully. My favorite track is probably "A Moon Falls", but I enjoyed all the music here. A lot of The Red Masque's music apparently starts as improvisations, and the finished product reflects that. My primary complaint is that the longer songs sometimes come off as meandering and repetitive. However, that is a minor complaint, and it's certainly less true of The Red Masque than other bands under the RIO/Avant Prog umbrella. Therefore, if you're looking for a change of pace and my descriptions raise your interest, The Red Masque is definitely worth your time.