Redstains
Redstains EP

August 2007
Released: n/a, NA
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewer: Hanntu

Redstains are a young Portuguese band and their EP can be downloaded off their website. They’re not strictly a metal band, it sounds more ambience/atmospheric but there are heavy elements in their music. The first song “My Epilogue” is a pretty good instrumental if not for one thing – the piano sounds strangely dissonant and out-of-tune. I don’t know if it was intended, but it has a jarring effect that doesn’t sit well with the relatively soothing opener. “Gasping for Air” is an uptempo rocker which may or may not be your cup of tea. You sort of wish that the instruments were mixed with a bit more ooomph and aggression, the singer for example is lacking any presence whatsoever. That may not be down to lack of ability, he sounds like he has a good voice, but it’s just not there in the mix when it needs to be.



“Beholder’s Eye” has a good rocking opening minute and a half, then threatens to descend into emo singing. Thankfully, he just stays north of the border, or else I’d really tear my hair out. Emo singing, one of my pet hates. There’s a lot of variation within the song, they really do have some good ideas, utilising bits of techno to break up the song, and the song structure is delightfully complex, at over 6 minutes. “Secret Apparition” starts off as a piano-driven piece progressing to a rock-ish bit with some not-quite-emo-but-close singing, a nice slow interlude, a not too OTT solo. At times this sounds like a pop-jazz number that wouldn’t be amiss on mainstream radio, then they crank it up again. Slightly weird. "This.pair" carries on the weirdness (eclecticism? eclecticness?) with a good rock tune, then adding a flute break in the middle.



No harm checking out this band, it costs nothing and they obviously can play. However I can very easily see why a metalhead would not find anything in this kind of music.