Condition Red is a progressive metal project originally
a dream child of keyboardist Alexander King and guitarist
Lars Eric Mattson. The band is also completed by Alex Masi
on guitar, Gerald Kloos on drums (Empire) and female vocalist/violinist
Ella Grussner.
Stylistically the band are as mentioned above
in the progressive metal genre, but neo-classical inflections
can be heard throughout also. The album is predominantly keyboard
led but there are enough six string flurries to satisfy the
guitar fans out there.
The album begins with The
Warning, a haunting short instrumental full of string
sections and bizarre sci-fi sound effects with huge thunder
claps, it creates quite a spooky opening before Eye Of The
Storm kicks in hard with its neo-classical tinges. Ella Grussner
then belts out some lyrics and it must be said that her vocals
are way too high in the mix, they sound very dry and to be
honest she does not always sing in key. Despite this the music
still manages to deliver the goods with a good driving Power
Metal rhythm section. Sadly the vocals really detract from
the goodness lying beneath.
This theme is generally carried on throughout
the album with the music all being very listenable and indeed
enjoyable but the vocals make even this heavy going. All this
is a shame as there are a lot of great musical ideas throughout.
Masi's contributes solos to Eye Of The
Storm, It's Not Too Late
and Why Won't You Hear Me? showcasing
his class and proficiency on the axe. Mattson also has his
fair share of good guitar work and the keyboard parts and
voicing's (sounds) used by King are all well done and throughout.
Cycles is quite a
bizarre instrumental starting off sounding like background
music to the Final Fantasy PC games - haunting and futuristic.
Its this quirkiness that does make it sound pretty original
however.
Ella Grussner's vocals do work well in places,
Time Passes By is one such track
where she does not go overly mad with theatrics and instead
sticks to a more classic delivery and the track has a very
strong chorus. The track is a well thought out out piece with
an original riff before coming down to a nice straightforward
verse and its a shame there is not more of this on offer throughout.
The Eagles Return
is a great instrumental riding the crest between neo-classical
and power metal. Reminding me a little of some of the material
on the Johansson album 'The Last Viking'. The track has a
great riff, nice counterpoints, good guitar work and King
really shines on the keyboards here, A definite highlight.
It's Not Too Late
again sees Grussner holding back a little and the benefits
are again heard, you do get the impression that at times she
is trying to cram too many words into a line but for the most
part its pretty good. A nice acoustic backdrop is enhanced
by sitar work which does give a nice full sound. The bridge
sees the volume pick up and Grussner sounds great here! The
track then heads into a synth solo before going back into
the mellow chorus. Alex Masi then takes flight with another
good solo which sees the track out in fine style.
The album then runs through with more instrumentals
Rondo, Seven
Stars and In/Out intertwined
between more vocal led tracks. Why Won't
You Hear Me? is the pick of the bunch here with some
great music particularly from King who really is beginning
to come out as the star of the project and another great solo
from Masi with some frighteningly fast runs. Your Freedom
has some nice violin arrangements from Grussner and these
do further enhance the bands original sound. Train Insane
comes out like a mix of metallised Hendrix meeting Zappa with
its dynamic riff. Grussner vocals do not work too well here
however. The album closes with another instrumental Out Of
The Red which sadly is the weakest of all the instrumentals
on offer.
So to sum up this album is not easy. To me despite
doing an okay job throughout Ella does not posses the kind
of vocals I would have liked to have heard over this music.
Yes she does lend the material a very individualist sound,
in fact I cannot really tell you of another band that sounds
like Condition Red. But more often than not she took away
a lot of my enjoyment of the album. Repeated spins of the
album prior to review did not change my mind set which is
a shame as their is a lot of promise here within the music,
particularly from keyboardist Alexander King. Checkout the
sound clips at the link below the track listing and decide
for yourself.
