reaper239

[FONT=verdana][COLOR=#add8e6]WHOAH!!! it got awfully dusty here in the corner. well, after a short hiatus (i think i spelled that right (GOOOOOOGLE!!!!)) i'm back. i think i'll call this Season 2, because i always write a lot of blogs and then take a break. so my whole body of work before this is Season 1, and now we begin again.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=verdana][COLOR=#add8e6]well, that's enough of that, on to the review. today i am reviewing... Release the Panic by RED. yeah, i bet you thought this would be a Panic at the Disco album review huh? (are they still releasing album? i never listened to them.) so it was almost two years exactly since their last release that REDs latest musical offering was released, and being the diligent fan i am, exactly a year later that i stumbled across it (two days ago). i already slapped my own wrist. [/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=verdana][COLOR=#add8e6]so, a little history on RED. they formed in 2004 and worked for about two years before releasing their first album The End of Silence. TES was a reasonably solid debut album, though it sounded infuriatingly like a Linkin Park album. sounding like Linkin Park wasn't the infuriating part, it was that there was so much more potential there that just a Linkin Park sound alike. despite that one downside, it was a decent album. they differed from the LP sound enough to display the raw talent to shine and stand out from other generic rock bands. then in '08 came Innocence and Instinct, which, as far as i'm concened, was their real debut album. i consider TES to be like a practice album, because on I&I they abandoned the cheap Linkin Park cover sound and really started to feel out their own sound. in 2010 they explored a slightly harder sound balanced with some beautiful ballads when they released Until We Have Faces. this was a solidifying of their core sound. now, while none of those albums were perfect tens, they all fell into the 8-9 range. [/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=verdana][COLOR=#add8e6]now a bit about their style. RED is a rock band, first and foremost, but what kind of stands out in their sound is the very ambient sound that pervades their albums. in every song, the tone isn't so much set by the music but by a kind of background music that flows below the surface and brings the action in the forefront into a much sharper focus. it's kind of like a good movie, if you watch a movie without any kind of background music, the movie feels empty, with a lot of empty sound, but a good movie will have background music that you don't even notice until you look for it, instead it blends into the scene as a natural organic part of the movie. in much the same way, RED lays ambient tracks in all their songs that really adds life to the rock. of course a lot of bands will do something similar by adding extra sound to the song, but the difference in RED is that the ambient music sound totally natural, it flows with the songs rises and falls throughout the albums, and really adds to the experience instead of sounding like just another instrument.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=verdana][COLOR=#add8e6]now for the album itself. this album takes what they solidified in Faces, and starts to expand on it. Faces added an action movie quality to the album, and Release takes that qualitiy and adds groove to the mix. this album kind of embodies the concept "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." they're not setting any speed records on this record, but at the same time, where the other albums would wind down on ballads, this album paces the ballads so there is no break on the flow. you always feel like you are making progress through the album, which is good since i wound up skipping songs on every other album because everything would just grind to a halt in the middle of the album. it's kind of hard to describe accurately how disconcerting it is to have an album that's moving along and then just stops for a piano ballad. there's nothing wrong with a piano ballad, but you definitely don't want to just drop a 5 minute one in the middle of an album with songs averageing 3.5-4 minutes. it just kills the pace. so, while there are several ballads on this album, they don't just stop the whole album for five minutes, they have enough pick up to carry through and connect to the next song. also, all of the songs have a better length and flow to them. [/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=verdana][COLOR=#add8e6]on their past albums, some of their songs either sounded too short and rushed, or too long and slow. they fixed that on this album, most of the songs hover around 3 minute mark, but they all feel organic and smooth. none of the songs exceed four and a half minutes, but none of them sound too short or long, so the change is very welcome. so, now i'll go ahead and talk about the songs. Release the Panic is the album opener. it starts with a build up and then flares. the opener is a solid rock song, that sets the tone to the rest of the album and lends a bit of groove to get us going. some of the songs have a more classic rock feel to them, but this just adds some variety. then there are songs like Die for You, which have a dance floor groove to them. RED kicks itt into high gear with songs like Damage, which is one of the heavier songs on the album. keep in mind that there is a distinct difference between heavy and hard, Damage isn't fast, but it has a darker tone and the music pulses rather than rocks. then there are the ballads. unlike Becoming the Archetype, where the instrumentals act as a sort of port in the storm of the adrenaline fueled music, the ballads here act as an ebb in the tide. it pulls the album back enough to allow you to follow it without significantly dropping the pace. some rock albums keep up the same breakneck paceing all the way through, and you kind of lose the tracks, each blurring into the next, and you can't follow where the album is going or what is trying to be communicated, but RED has never had that problem. instead, their problem has always been (as previously stated) halting the album in the middle and having to build momentum all over again. they mercifully avoid that here and you can just coast along the whole way without having to make a conscious effort to continue forth. as always the lyrics focus on man's struggle against himself, the things we do to sabotage ourselves, and our failings to God. [/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=verdana][COLOR=#add8e6]over all, this is a very listenable album. while previous efforts have had gems that were placed together somewhat poorly, here the album manages to keep the attention of the listener the whole way through. while certainly not the best rock album i've ever heard, it is a very commendable effort and one that i'll be listening to for quite some time. 9/10

[video=youtube;KQjOK3e5sCU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQjOK3e5sCU[/video]

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