Artist: Red Sun Revival
Title: Identities
Genre: Gothic Rock
Release Date: 19th June 2015
Label: Echozone
Album Review
When SISTERS OF MERCY dictator Andrew Eldritch met Jim Steinman (he who writes for MEATLOAF) all those years ago their conversation must have gone something like this:
Andrew – I want to write something huge, dramatic, wonderfully over the top, darkly beautiful and powerfully theatrical.
Jim – No problem, dude. Let’s co-write.
Andrew – Here’s some lyrics and I want lots of rain in the video ok?
Jim – No problem, dude. Here’s ‘This Corrosion’, dude.
What subsequently left gothic rock so bereft was when it lost that sense of theatre, and went so in on itself it was hard to breathe. It’s therefore refreshing to find UK band RED SUN REVIVAL merrily putting on their frock-coats and updating that Eldritch/Steinman collaboration for a generation who probably weren’t there at the time. And this is a very good thing. Let’s start with ‘The Reckoning’. It immediately gets stuck-in with a surge of impressive Gothic gloom, all mournful violins and carefully balanced dramatics. Singer Rob Leydon then adds his most impressive vocal to date, ratcheting up the melodrama passionately, the sound of desperation painfully clear. You can imagine the wind howling, the rain lashing some desolate hilltop and Rob, arms raised to the broiling skies, howling like a gentleman possessed. No need for a Steinman or an Eldritch here. This is perfectly realised, and perfectly executed.
The single ‘Mistakes’ is another excellent entry point into the velvet-draped dusty ballroom world of RED SUN REVIVAL. The violin gives it an additional melancholy glamour and poignancy, the whole song dancing majestically and seamlessly around its simple refrain. Even the guitar solo makes an unusually welcome return here, the song propelled along with urgency by some excellent drumming from Simon Rippin (a man normally seen moonlighting in THE EDEN HOUSE). Elsewhere we have a ghostly chorus of voices introducing the sprightly ‘Echoes’, the magnificently sad chorus to ‘Four Walls’ and the surprisingly upbeat piano-led skip and jump of ‘In Your Name’. Ambitiously opting for “Gothic Drama – The Musical” on the sprawling two-part largely instrumental ‘The Condemned Part 1 and 2’ they just about get away with it.
Altering the course of the album so dramatically almost upsets the balance, but it’s such a thing of beauty and pent-up sadness that its presence is not unwelcome. Yes it’s overblown and back-of-hand-to-forehead melodramatic, and yes the guitar soloing is just that bit too indulgent, but once it’s built up a bit of a froth it all seems worth it. ‘The Awakening’ rounds off ‘Identities’ with graceful style, soaring hopefully above the grumbling storm-clouds and lifting some of the gloom to reveal a band not tied to any moody or permanently down-beat default setting.
If Rob met Jim, the conversation would go like this:
Jim – Do you want help, dude, in writing something huge, dramatic, wonderfully over the top, darkly beautiful and powerfully theatrical?
Rob – No thanks mate, already done it. Already done it.
Tracklist
01. Premonition
02. Echoes
03. Four Walls
04. The Reckoning
05. Fade In Time
06. In Your Name
07. Mistakes
08. The Condemned Part 1
09. The Condemned Part 2
10. The Awakening
Line-up
Rob Leydon - Vocals & programming
Matt Helm - Guitar
Christina Emery - Violin & backing vocals
Panos Theodoropoulous - Bass guitar
Website
http://redsunrevival.com/ / https://www.facebook.com/RedSunRevival
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10
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