Red
Innocence & Instinct

I already wrote a review about the Red, concerning their previous album End Of Silence, to which I gave 3 stars out of 5. It was a deserved pass, but the album was, how to say, unripe. Well, in this Innocence & Instinct, everything that was present in the previous record is blended with a new sonic power, stemming from the entry of a new drummer into the line-up, the talented Joe Rickard, who replaces the former Hayden Lamb. Well, I don't want to be mean toward the former drummer, but the band has definitely grown since 2006, the year when "the end of silence" saw the light. Now it's time for a concept album oriented on the theme of men's dualism, partly inspired by the third canto of Inferno by Dante, as illustrated by the introduction entitled, indeed, Canto III.

After the unsettling introduction, the album kicks off with the powerful Fight Inside, whose riff hits the listener like a punch in the face, catapulting them into the infernal and ethereal dimension that envelops this great work. You find yourself in the world of Red, now they are the ones at the helm of the record, and they do it excellently. The orchestral parts and electronic beats are now an integral part of the songs, unlike the previous record, where they seemed to have been added only after composing the piece, sometimes suffocating the result. Instead, in this new record, the alchemy among electric instruments, strings, and electronics is perfect. Innocence & Instinct succeeds where End Of Silence had failed: the Pop vein is still present (Start Again, Never Be The Same, Mystery Of You) but it's not as excessive as in the previous work. The sound has become heavier, the guitars are rougher, the production is more refined, Michael's screams are more frequent and much more powerful than before, particularly in the liberating Fight Inside, the whimsical and in its way charming Death Of Me, and the devastating Overtake You.

At times it seems like listening to Chino Moreno from the Deftones in a pop version (Start Again), other times the band assumes its own personality. The album pushes further than End Of Silence: there's room for a well-executed cover (Ordinary World, originally by Duran Duran), and also for the twin sister of Pieces, the ethereal and captivating Take It All Away, which is the only true ballad. There are two other slower songs, but they're what I would call power ballads. The adrenaline remains much higher than the previous record, where the truly intense tracks were only four.

Innocence & Instinct is an excellent work, certainly not a fantastic piece destined to endure forever in history, but certainly worth at least a listen. The best tracks are undoubtedly the angry opener Fight Inside, the dreamy Forever, the furious Overtake You and the atmospheric Take It All Away, where Michael Barnes' sweet voice seems to come from an otherworldly dimension. On high peaks also the unsettling Shadows, the tormented and lightning-fast Confession, and the central fury of Death Of Me is notable as well. The less successful songs, actually, let's say "less good," are Start Again and Never Be The Same, the two power ballads I mentioned before. In the average, instead, Mystery Of You and the cover Ordinary World. We can say that the summary song of all this work is Out From Under, which fuses all the characteristics present in the album: solid and powerful riff, melodic singing, and a certain aggressiveness that comes to the surface sometimes more, sometimes less.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this album to those who love the sounds of Breaking Benjamin and the angrier Chevelle. I&I is a good step up from its predecessor, especially regarding the lyrics, and also regarding the underlying concept: EOS was a simple collection of songs talking about typical life problems, with a considerable religious component. In I&I, as already said, the Red's lyrics become more complex, more introspective, and less connected to religion. They remain a fairly commercial group and certainly do not bring stylistic revolutions or anything like that, but they are worth listening to.