REDEMPTION

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The first incarnation of REDEMPTION features Rick Mythiasin on vocals, Jason Rullo (SYMPHONY X) on drums, Bernie Vesailles (FATES WARNING) on lead guitar and the leader of the band Nick Van Dyk on various instruments including keys and bass. There are guest appearances from Michael Romeo (SYMPHONY X) on orchestration, Mark Zonder (FATES WARNING) on drums and Ray Adler (FATES WARNING) doing vocals on one song, and backing vocals as well. So as you might imagine the musicianship is of the highest quality but the production and or mixing of this record leaves one wondering why they didn't bring someone in from outside to do the job. This album just doesn't sound right at times, especially the vocals which are mixed lower then the rest of the band.

The first 4 songs are all part of the "Desperation" suite.This is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. It opens with about a minute and a half of orchestration courtesy of Michael Romeo before the heavy riffs and drums come in. Ray sings the second part of this suite (he is now their full time vocalist) as synths and keys are added. Some great scorching guitar as well from Bernie. "Nocturnal" is a guitar driven track full of riffs and solos. Nice.

"Window To Space" is my favourite song on this record. So many tempo and mood shifts, this song has it all. "As I Lay Dying" features Zonder on drums and his presence is felt throughout. The vocals are better here and the guitars are excellent. "Something Wicked Comes This Way" is based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury. It's a hard and heavy 24 minute song with some outstanding instrumental work.

I almost feel cheated with this release especially when the follow up "The Fullness Of Time" sounds so amazing. This is still a good release though despite the sound quality.

"Redemption" is the debut full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Redemption. The album was released in March 2003 by Sensory Records.

Redemption is the brainchild of guitarist/ bassist/ keyboardist Nicolas Van Dyk. There are quite a few prolific progressive metal musicians playing on the album though and I´m tempted to call this an all-star cast. Rick Mythiasin (Pantera, New Eden, Taraxacum, Steel Prophet) is the lead vocalist, Jason Rullo (Symphony X) plays the drums and Bernie Versailles (Agent Steel, Engine, Fates Warning) plays lead guitars. In addition to that we have Ray Alder (Fates Warning, Engine) guesting on lead vocals on song 2 "Desperation Part II", Mark Zonder (Fates Warning, Slaviour) guesting on drums on song 7 "As I Lay Dying" and Michael Romeo (Symphony X) who contributes with orchestration on song 1 "Desperation Part I" and song 4 "Desperation Part IV".

The music on the album is progressive metal. Heavy riffs, keyboards and high pitched vocals. High quality compositions and musicianship but really nothing unusual for the genre. There are 8 tracks on the album. The first 4 tracks "Desperation I-IV" make up a lyrical concept and they seque into each other. The last song is a 24:00 minute long track so the music is pretty challenging. While the music and the musicianship is of high quality the production really drags the album down. The sound is thin and lacks bass. The only time I hear the bass is in the song "Window To Space" where it has a kind of lead part. On the rest of the album the bass is not audible at all. There´s also something wrong with how the keyboards are placed in the mix. Sometimes they´re not very audible. I can hear that they are there but I can´t hear what they are playing. A really bad production this one.

Now when I see all the names mentioned above I expect something extraordinaire but I think this is a pretty "run of the mill" progressive metal album. No surprises and a bad production really don´t do anything positive for the album. There´s nothing wrong with the musicianship or the compositions as such, The compositions could however have been written by almost any progressive metal act. I think Redemption seriously lack an original sound on this album. When those complaints have been voiced "Redemption" is still a pretty good progressive metal album and a 3 star rating is deserved.