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Rick Mythiasin (Steel Prophet): lead vocals
Jason Rullo (Symphony X): drums
Nicolas van Dyk: rythm and lead guitars, bass, keyboards and backing
vocals
Bernie Versailles (Agent Steel, Fates Warning): lead guitars
Additional musicians:
Ray Alder (Fates Warning): lead vocals on Desperation part 2,
backing vocals
Michael Romeo (Symphony X): orchestration for Desperation part 1 and
4
Mark Zonder (Fates Warning): drums on As I Lie Dying |
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Redemption is a project of Nicolas Van Dyk who is searching for a
combination of progressive music from classic bands, with the metal
of groups like Metallica and Iron Maiden. Together with Ray Alder
from Fates Warning, he could establish his dream and start a project
helped by vocalist Rich Mythiasin (Steel Prophet), drummer Jason
Rullo (Symphony X), and guitarist Bernie Versailles (Engine/Agent
Steel).
Desperation is based on a novel of the same name by Stephen King. It
tells the story of a being (Tak) that lives on human energy and
killed all inhabitants of the little village Desperation. A good
story to use as a concept for these first four tracks, but the
lyrics are too much like the book, too much a sequential story of
what happened.
The intro of “Desperation Part I” sounds like a movie soundtrack,
but quickly changes in a progmetal verse. I don’t really like the
heavy guitar rhythm, which reminds me of Metallica, (I like
Metallica, but this is too much in front) and the chorus sounds a
lot better when that guitar is no longer present. The chorus is much
more melodic and open. Of course, the contrast between the two is
bigger because of that particular guitar.
“Part II” is wonderfully sung by Ray Alder. It’s a pity he only does
the vocals on this track. He sounds a lot better than Rick
Mythiasin. During the chorus, it’s almost as if I’m listening to
James Labrie. The beginning of the track is a ballad with some
piano, but the rest of the song is heavier.
“Part III” is a bit like part I. Again, I like the chorus a lot more
than the verses, because of the lack of heavy guitars in the
choruses.
“Part IV” doesn’t give a lot of change in comparison to Part III. It
ends with the same orchestration as on the intro of Part I. You can
clearly recognize Michael Romeo’s hand in this classical pieces.
“Nocturnal” is, like the title already suggests, a darker track.
“Window To Space” contains a very beautiful keyboards solo in the
beginning. It’s a good track, but it can’t hold its grip on me for
the whole 13 minutes.
Mark Zonder is doing the drums on “As I Lay Dying”, which gives a
whole different kind of rhythm, very Fates Warning.
“Something Wicked This Way Comes” is based on Ray Bradbury’s book of
the same name. It’s a long (24 minutes) epic track with lots of
changes and lots of solos but not enough to keep me excited for the
whole track. Maybe it needs some more listening. Again the lyrics
are too much written as a story.
It’s a good album, but it could have been better. I like progmetal,
but for this album, I can’t really fully appreciate the heavy
guitars. I think it all would have sounded a lot better if these
guitars were less heavy or maybe not so much in front. There are
some beautiful melody lines but they all seem to vanish a bit in the
wall of sound.
The vocals of Ray Alder are brilliant, with his Labrie voice, but he
only did one song. The rest is sung by Rick Mythiasin, who sounds
more like Bruce Dickinson.
If you like Evergrey, Savatage, Kansas, Iron Maiden, Fates
Warning,... than your profile is right as a buyer of this sort of
album. |
