RED CAIN: Kindred: Act I (MELODIC METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

A group recently released from the great plains of Alberta, Red Cain invites us, through their first album, to immerse ourselves in a powerful and modern melodic metal that blows a new wind on a genre that is losing momentum due to the presence of too many clones.

In other words, this 'Kindred: Act 1' is full of qualities. It is intended for music lovers who are not afraid of density and complexity. In fact, it is mainly about structures and melodies because their variety makes the path taken by Canadians quite unreadable. The background sound is easily saturated with powerful guitars and keyboard layers. From this very melodic maelstrom stands out a song that adapts wonderfully to the musical tonality. It may remind us of Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian) or Matt Barlow (ex Iced Earth) for the most vehement as Tommy Karevik (Kamelot) in terms of melodic subtlety.

But Evgeniy Zayarny's fabulous voice is not the only attraction of Red Cain. Indeed, behind a powerful melodic metal we perceive much more technical or even progressive influences like Tesseract or Symphony X, both cited by the band, as well as Steven Wilson, Alter Bridge or Opeth. That is to say the width of the fan behind which our friends hide to let their creativity and inspiration sail. However, it is clearly not in the progressive register that Red Cain wants to be included, as it cultivates rather the traditional alloy of the original metal, which is intended to be at once powerful, very loud (as critics will say) and accessible to the greatest number of people. It is in a way this return to the roots, revised in 2019, that the group is seeking to explore. Not fleeing from the undue metal sound effects ("Juliet"), the natives of Cagliary do not set any limits and that is good.

After a rather thundering opening part of the album, diversity takes its rightful place in syncopated rhythms anchored in a deep and snoring key. Groove is thus an additional characteristic that can be identified as Red Cain. And it is with great confidence that the seven titles are presented with a fairly constant happiness.

It's not so easy to follow Red Cain's trajectory, which touches a little bit on everything while keeping the density and power that are the hallmarks of this beautiful first album. We certainly blamed him for his too short duration (39 minutes) and a little rough at times but we are dealing with an album that could put a band with undeniable talent on the right track. - Official website

RED CAIN

KINDRED: ACT I

AUTRE LABEL

MELODIC METAL