Over the last decade or so it has become increasingly easy for new young bands to record and release albums under their own steam, and that can only be a good thing - it’s a democratisation of art that removes the tyranny of the major labels as arbiters of what is good. However, just because a band can record and release an album doesn’t mean they should - and Redemption Unnamed’s Silent Shadows is the proof.
Redemption Unnamed kick things off with “Orsus”, a mellow down-tempo bass groove with faint female vocals that recalls the classic Sabbath track “Planet Caravan”. From here on in, however, Silent Shadows moves rapidly downhill into a quagmire of murky and underproduced dark metal with faintly progressive undertones.
From the obvious and unnecessary intro of “Carrie White” onwards, Silent Shadows is all predictable riffs, sloppy playing and flat vocals that retrospectively justify every criticism that’s ever been aimed at goth-tinged metal. Redemption Unnamed veer wildly between mopy teenage angst and overblown pseudo-death bombast from singer Dani, who would do better to focus on improving her clean vocals - which at least have occasional moments of conviction and melody - than continue further down the dead-end ally of her “demonic” growls.
I’m well aware of the amount of work and effort involved in putting together a half-hour live set, let alone an hour-long album. But if you’re going to go the whole hog and put your work out into the world, you need to pull out all the stops, make sure your playing is tight, pare the songs down to their essentials and get rid of the flab. Redemption Unnamed come across like a promising young band who need another year or two of relentless touring before even thinking about hitting the studio; Silent Shadows would pass muster as a free demo to give out at shows, but little more.
It’s just not a finished article; it lacks the taut savagery of proper dark metal, the sonic snap of the more melodic forms, and the precision playing of progressive. The lyrics are cliché sixth-form notebook rants, the guitar tone is dreadful, and every song sounds like it was recorded live in a single take, complete with aimless and imprecise guitar solos and dropped beats. There’s no faulting Redemption Unnamed’s ambition, but overconfidence is deadly in this business. It’s not a matter of money, either - the greatest producers on the planet would struggle to make Silent Shadows anything more than bearable.
I’m all for bands stepping out and going independent, but it’s important that they realise they’ll be held to the same standards of quality as professional bands with major label backing. Silent Shadows is about as good an example of why self-funded albums have a bad reputation as I could care to name. Redemption Unnamed have promising ideas and musical potential, but their work needs masses more polish before they think about releasing music that they expect people to pay for.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: dark metal, goth, progressive, Redemption Unnamed, Silent Shadows
