The official Redemption thread v. I Am the Storm - March 17th 2023

[devieira73]

Any of the Ray albums are great. My personal fave is This Mortal Coil.

Also it's clearly my fave! Although I'm not a big fan of Tom Englund's vocals, I think Long Night's Journey into Day is truly amazing. If Ray sang on it, I think it could be my fave album by them.

[bosk1]

This Mortal Coil is amazing.  But it is one of the few albums where the loudness factor exhausts me and makes it hard to listen to.  I think the loudness combined with the unrelenting metal on that one exacerbates the issue.  But it's a fantastic album.

[goo-goo]

This Mortal Coil is amazing.  But it is one of the few albums where the loudness factor exhausts me and makes it hard to listen to.  I think the loudness combined with the unrelenting metal on that one exacerbates the issue.  But it's a fantastic album.

Same with me with This Mortal Coil. I believe even Nick chimed in here or maybe when he posted at either the Ultimate Metal forums or Redemption's FB page. Anyways, apparently that was the sound he was aiming for and he doesn't think it's loud. I personally disagree because I can't listen to the album in one sitting. It's one of those albums that it rocks so hard that you need the loud volume to get pumped but then after a few songs, it's exhausting.

[bosk1]

There are few albums where the loudness issue stands out to me enough to make it hard to listen, but this is one of them. 

[wolfking]

No Tickets to The Funeral is such a fucking badass song!!

[TAC]

Even though This Mortal Coil is probably the heaviest, I feel like it's the most emotional lyricwise.

On one of our trips, I listened to it while driving across Wyoming, and it just blended naturally with the countryside. I mean, anything would blend with that scenery, but I really had a magical listen that I'll never forget. The lyrics just hit me hard.

[abydos]

I know the debut album doesn't get a lot of love but I still regard it as one of their strongest. I love the guy's vocals on it (Ray on that particular one, not so much).

I was hoping to see Something Wicked performed live. That song in particular would have sounded great with both Ray and Tom singing. Desperation is another great one. Rick is like Redemption's John Arch

A little overlooked part in the band I feel is the sweet drumming in the debut by Jason Rullo.

[T-ski]

The new track smokes.

[ZirconBlue]

Where's a good place to start?

Snowfall on Judgment Day

+1

+2

+3

Thanks, all.  It has the one song I know I like, and looks like it has guest vocals from JLB on one song, so sounds like a winner all around.  I'll check it out.

[DTwwbwMP]

The new track smokes.

 

[Deathless]

The new track smokes.

Hmm. I'm not a huge fan yet, but I've only listened to it twice. I'll dig in more this weekend.

[Mebert78]

The new song slays!  And I love the "Breaking Bad" audio clip halfway through.  "I am the one who knocks!"  Heisenberg!

[MinistroRaven]

Our lead single “I Am The Storm” is OUT NOW. Pre-order the new album, “I Am The Storm,” out March 2023 on AFM Records. https://shop.afm-records.de/redemption/

Stream the full lyric video for “I Am The Storm”: https://youtu.be/AWrXVDeLv1A

“The life of a human being is many things, among them an ongoing stream of challenges and opportunities.  We choose to face them with enthusiasm or indifference, with resistance or resignation.  Sometimes we pick our battles, knowing when to push and when to acquiesce.  But the important thing is that each human being is an individual infused with dignity and the ability to be an author of their story.  This song is about perseverance, and daring to spit in the face of the odds.”

[TAC]

Wow, the new song smokes for sure. The vocals unfortunately kill it for me. So depressing. The change of singers practically takes new Redemption material virtually of the table for me.

[krands85]

I know the debut album doesn't get a lot of love but I still regard it as one of their strongest. I love the guy's vocals on it (Ray on that particular one, not so much).

I was hoping to see Something Wicked performed live. That song in particular would have sounded great with both Ray and Tom singing. Desperation is another great one. Rick is like Redemption's John Arch

A little overlooked part in the band I feel is the sweet drumming in the debut by Jason Rullo.

I also like the debut, Something Wicked is especially awesome.

I seem to be quite unusual with my rankings though, as my 2 favourites are probably The Art of Loss and The Fullness of Time.

I'll check out the new track later 

[wolfking]

Hmmm.....that song was okay, but didn't blow me away.

[kaos2900]

Wow, the new song smokes for sure. The vocals unfortunately kill it for me. So depressing. The change of singers practically takes new Redemption material virtually of the table for me.

Ditto

[wolfking]

I don't think the mix here is doing Tom any favours to be honest.

[TAC]

I don't think the mix here is doing Tom any favours to be honest.

Neither does his voice. 

[Zook]

It took me some time to get used to Tom's voice in Evergrey. I think he was a little too overdramatic on the early albums, but anything from Hymns onward is great. I didn't care much for the new album though. I think he sounds a little too laid-back with Redemption, maybe even uninspired, but Long Nights is still pretty solid.

[wolfking]

I don't think the mix here is doing Tom any favours to be honest.

Neither does his voice. 

I walked into that one, didn't I....

[TAC]

I don't think the mix here is doing Tom any favours to be honest.

Neither does his voice. 

I walked into that one, didn't I....

    

[wolfking]

I don't think the mix here is doing Tom any favours to be honest.

Neither does his voice. 

I walked into that one, didn't I....

    

I could have worded that just a bit different to avoid that but no...........

[ronnibran]

I don't think I saw it posted here yet...  but found traclisting:

"I Am The Storm"-Tracklist:

01. I Am The Storm
02. Seven Minutes From Sunset
03. Remember The Dawn
04. The Emotional Depiction Of Light
05. Resilience
06. Action At A Distance
07. Turn It On Again (Genesis cover)
08. All This Time (And Not Enough)
09. The Emotional Depiction Of Light (Remix)
10. Red Rain (Peter Gabriel cover)
Vinyl-Bonustracks:
The Pearl Clutchers (feat. Chris)
The Far Side Of The Clouds (feat. Henrik Danhage)

https://www.sonicperspectives.com/news/redemption-announces-new-album-i-am-the-storm/

[Grappler]

I'm looking forward to hearing the album, along with the cover of Red Rain.  Queensryche's cover of that song was really good, so it will be fun to hear what Tom can do with it.

Also:

The Pearl Clutchers (feat. Chris)

    Having followed the online presence of a band member over the years on a different forum as well as a little bit of social media meltdown, the title of this song just deserves a giant eye-roll.  At least they were smart enough to leave it as a bonus track. 

[bosk1]

One thing I'll say is that, while I have always thought it a bit silly to get excited when things that have nothing to do with the content of the music are revealed, like album name, song titles, song lengths, etc., Nick has a real knack for creative and thought-provoking song names that gets me more excited than normal.

   Having followed the online presence of a band member over the years on a different forum as well as a little bit of social media meltdown, the title of this song just deserves a giant eye-roll.  At least they were smart enough to leave it as a bonus track. 

Interesting.  I have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds intriguing.  Details?  (or at least a link to where to find them?)

[Lethean]

Vinyl only bonus tracks are annoying.

I wasn't all that into I Am the Storm, but maybe that will change with more listens when the album comes out.

[Grappler]

   Having followed the online presence of a band member over the years on a different forum as well as a little bit of social media meltdown, the title of this song just deserves a giant eye-roll.  At least they were smart enough to leave it as a bonus track. 

Interesting.  I have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds intriguing.  Details?  (or at least a link to where to find them?)

Sending you a PM

[wolfking]

   Having followed the online presence of a band member over the years on a different forum as well as a little bit of social media meltdown, the title of this song just deserves a giant eye-roll.  At least they were smart enough to leave it as a bonus track. 

Interesting.  I have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds intriguing.  Details?  (or at least a link to where to find them?)

Sending you a PM

Nah, just post for everyone haha.

I'm guessing that's supposed to be Chris Poland too.

[Mebert78]

I just noticed that Nick had a lengthy response to a fan on YouTube who said that "Redemption died when Alder left."  Just thought I'd share it here...

Ray's voice is certainly iconic and he's an amazing vocalist.  When he could no longer devote time to Redemption and I had to replace him (a very difficult task as you can imagine) Tom was the only person that I felt was up to the task -- supremely talented, able to convey the emotion of our lyrics, and a great guy who would be a good fit.  The challenge there is that Tom, of course, is also an iconic voice.  You have to understand that Redemption ran the risk of sounding like Fates Warning (with some musical differences) just as we run the risk of sounding like Evergrey (again, with some musical differences).

Tom and I discussed that point very specifically, and so we have taken steps to differentiate ourselves.  Tom doesn't play guitar in Redemption.  Tom doesn't write music for Redemption.  Tom interprets the vocal lines but they are fundamentally written by me, as they were when Ray was our vocalist.   Our compositional process hasn't changed much other than Sean and Chris and I have worked together for an increasing period of time, and Vikram was able to contribute quite a bit for this record.  But he, of course, doesn't write for Evergrey either so I don't think his participation in the song-writing should make us sound more like them.

In any event, we're lucky to have Tom, as we were lucky to have Ray.  We've made music that I'm quite proud of with both.

I think of Redemption as having a number of different flavors of songs and this has been consistent over the years.  We have always had longer, prog "epics" if you will.  We have also had traditional melodic metal with a progressive twist.  And -- owing both to my growing up on Bay Area thrash and also not wanting to be dismissed for being "wimpy prog guys" we have always had an aggressive side that combines really heavy music with strong melody.  Not many bands do this.  Comparisons to them (as have been made in this thread) are inevitable, though.  If I can write music that sounds like Evergrey or Nevermore, I consider that a damn good song.  They don't all sound like that.

We have three other songs planned as releases prior to the album itself coming out.  One is melodic metal with a prog edge, one is a prog epic, and one is something a bit different for us where Vikram brought us something really special that I don't want to spoil with a description right now.  I don't think you'll mistake any of these for Evergrey, or Nevermore.  To me, we sound like us, and always have.  And part of that is that our vocalist sounds like Evergrey's, in the same way that Heaven & Hell's vocalist sounded like DIo's.  And in the same way that our previous vocalist sounded like Fates Warning's.

I hope you and others find something to enjoy from what we do, and in any event, thank you for listening and commenting.

[Lethean]

Interesting, and I feel for him.  That said - to me Redemption never really sounded like Fates Warning at all, but Ray absolutely sounded like Ray.

I think Tom could sound like Tom and no one, or almost no one, would confuse Redemption for Evergrey.  It would only sound better, but Tom sounding like himself is pretty awesome.


I'm not saying that Nick's not being truthful in that post, but I wonder if he actually knew about Tom singing differently before he delivered the vocals for the last album. In the ProgPower interview, he mentioned Tom working on them on his own and he was a little nervous because he wasn't hearing anything and it was taking a while.  (Total paraphrase and I can get the actual interview early January just to make sure).  Maybe Tom did this on his and Nick kind of had to live with it, and they had those lengthy conversations after the fact.  Or maybe not - that's complete speculation on my part.

[Nachtmerrie]

They never sounded like Fates Warning to me. Just as Nick describes they have that agressive side that FW doesn't have.

I'm sure they will never sound like Evergrey as Redemption is more technical and progressive while Evergrey leans more to the melodic side with the way they use synths.

The thing that bothered me with the last album is Tom trying to not sound like Tom. I really hope he sounds more comfortable at the new album.
I love Tom and I love Redemption and really hope the combination works for me this time.

[Ben_Jamin]

I always thought that Redemption sounds like if Megadeth went full on Progressive Metal. If I were to give them a label, it would be Progressive Thrash Metal.

[cramx3]

I just noticed that Nick had a lengthy response to a fan on YouTube who said that "Redemption died when Alder left."  Just thought I'd share it here...

Ray's voice is certainly iconic and he's an amazing vocalist.  When he could no longer devote time to Redemption and I had to replace him (a very difficult task as you can imagine) Tom was the only person that I felt was up to the task -- supremely talented, able to convey the emotion of our lyrics, and a great guy who would be a good fit.  The challenge there is that Tom, of course, is also an iconic voice.  You have to understand that Redemption ran the risk of sounding like Fates Warning (with some musical differences) just as we run the risk of sounding like Evergrey (again, with some musical differences).

Tom and I discussed that point very specifically, and so we have taken steps to differentiate ourselves.  Tom doesn't play guitar in Redemption.  Tom doesn't write music for Redemption.  Tom interprets the vocal lines but they are fundamentally written by me, as they were when Ray was our vocalist.   Our compositional process hasn't changed much other than Sean and Chris and I have worked together for an increasing period of time, and Vikram was able to contribute quite a bit for this record.  But he, of course, doesn't write for Evergrey either so I don't think his participation in the song-writing should make us sound more like them.

In any event, we're lucky to have Tom, as we were lucky to have Ray.  We've made music that I'm quite proud of with both.

I think of Redemption as having a number of different flavors of songs and this has been consistent over the years.  We have always had longer, prog "epics" if you will.  We have also had traditional melodic metal with a progressive twist.  And -- owing both to my growing up on Bay Area thrash and also not wanting to be dismissed for being "wimpy prog guys" we have always had an aggressive side that combines really heavy music with strong melody.  Not many bands do this.  Comparisons to them (as have been made in this thread) are inevitable, though.  If I can write music that sounds like Evergrey or Nevermore, I consider that a damn good song.  They don't all sound like that.

We have three other songs planned as releases prior to the album itself coming out.  One is melodic metal with a prog edge, one is a prog epic, and one is something a bit different for us where Vikram brought us something really special that I don't want to spoil with a description right now.  I don't think you'll mistake any of these for Evergrey, or Nevermore.  To me, we sound like us, and always have.  And part of that is that our vocalist sounds like Evergrey's, in the same way that Heaven & Hell's vocalist sounded like DIo's.  And in the same way that our previous vocalist sounded like Fates Warning's.

I hope you and others find something to enjoy from what we do, and in any event, thank you for listening and commenting.

I think those are all great and fair points in a respectful post.  While I kind of wish Tom would be more Evergrey Tom because I think that's really what he is good at, I totally get the reasoning.  I also think he sings similar to Ray did in Redemption so it all makes sense to me.  And I don't think this is odd within the industry either.  There's plenty of examples where new singers come in and try to keep a style within that band and not do what they've necessarily have done in their other band/s.

[Ben_Jamin]

I just noticed that Nick had a lengthy response to a fan on YouTube who said that "Redemption died when Alder left."  Just thought I'd share it here...

Ray's voice is certainly iconic and he's an amazing vocalist.  When he could no longer devote time to Redemption and I had to replace him (a very difficult task as you can imagine) Tom was the only person that I felt was up to the task -- supremely talented, able to convey the emotion of our lyrics, and a great guy who would be a good fit.  The challenge there is that Tom, of course, is also an iconic voice.  You have to understand that Redemption ran the risk of sounding like Fates Warning (with some musical differences) just as we run the risk of sounding like Evergrey (again, with some musical differences).

Tom and I discussed that point very specifically, and so we have taken steps to differentiate ourselves.  Tom doesn't play guitar in Redemption.  Tom doesn't write music for Redemption.  Tom interprets the vocal lines but they are fundamentally written by me, as they were when Ray was our vocalist.   Our compositional process hasn't changed much other than Sean and Chris and I have worked together for an increasing period of time, and Vikram was able to contribute quite a bit for this record.  But he, of course, doesn't write for Evergrey either so I don't think his participation in the song-writing should make us sound more like them.

In any event, we're lucky to have Tom, as we were lucky to have Ray.  We've made music that I'm quite proud of with both.

I think of Redemption as having a number of different flavors of songs and this has been consistent over the years.  We have always had longer, prog "epics" if you will.  We have also had traditional melodic metal with a progressive twist.  And -- owing both to my growing up on Bay Area thrash and also not wanting to be dismissed for being "wimpy prog guys" we have always had an aggressive side that combines really heavy music with strong melody.  Not many bands do this.  Comparisons to them (as have been made in this thread) are inevitable, though.  If I can write music that sounds like Evergrey or Nevermore, I consider that a damn good song.  They don't all sound like that.

We have three other songs planned as releases prior to the album itself coming out.  One is melodic metal with a prog edge, one is a prog epic, and one is something a bit different for us where Vikram brought us something really special that I don't want to spoil with a description right now.  I don't think you'll mistake any of these for Evergrey, or Nevermore.  To me, we sound like us, and always have.  And part of that is that our vocalist sounds like Evergrey's, in the same way that Heaven & Hell's vocalist sounded like DIo's.  And in the same way that our previous vocalist sounded like Fates Warning's.

I hope you and others find something to enjoy from what we do, and in any event, thank you for listening and commenting.

I think those are all great and fair points in a respectful post.  While I kind of wish Tom would be more Evergrey Tom because I think that's really what he is good at, I totally get the reasoning.  I also think he sings similar to Ray did in Redemption so it all makes sense to me.  And I don't think this is odd within the industry either.  There's plenty of examples where new singers come in and try to keep a style within that band and not do what they've necessarily have done in their other band/s.

That's the tough part of being the newer singer after an amazing singer has placed their signature into the tone and sound of the music. To be respectful of the musical vision of the band, the vocal tones are just as important. In bands where singers are really famous, this is priority. I actually think no band is immune to how important a vocalists tone plays in defining the entire tone of the music the band plays. And it's really up to the band to how far they want to experiment on keeping that same tone or branching into the world.

I am glad we got Tom as a vocalist and with the topics Redemption sings about, I think he is a great person to put that same emotion into his delivery. And after finally hearing Evergrey enough to a bit familiar with his style, I would definitely be up to hearing that more ingrained in Redemption. I wouldn't think it would sound like Everygrey, as these two bands have two different creative minds. But I also understand, to be respectful of that creative mind, not wanting to sound too much like the other.

I'm listening to Alive In Color now and after hearing The Echo Chamber, I can hear the similarities to how Ray sang in Redemption. And I noticed that it's similar to Nicks backing vocals. So, I actually do think they're both implementing Nicks singing style into their lead vocals as a way to incorporate his singing style/tone into the music he writes, since he is the creative mind. I wouldn't be surprised too if Nick sings them the melodies when they're recording, or if he sends them guide vocal demos.