Time Signature Scream...

Genre: hard rock

The second album from Redrum, ”Victims of our Circumstances” features Michael Bormann of Bloddbound and Bonfire fame on vocals and should thus appeal to fans of melodic hard rock. This is not to say that tis album is all softie.

In fact, Redrum takes the listener through a variety of genre elements from across the hard rock universe. Tracks like 'Scream' and 'You Can't Bury No Hero' even venture into metal territory, which also applies to the heavy and groovy 'Dust in your Eyes' and 'Tear Down the Walls' which features a Randy Rhoads-ish riff and almost sounds like power metal in some places. 'Dirty White Boy' is more in the vein of ”Down to Earth”-era Rainbow. There are also a couple of power ballads in the form of 'Mother I'm Coming Home' and 'Empty Promises' which do not really rock my world. There is also a nice cover version of John Farnham's pop classic 'You're the Voice'. Redrum's version does not quite manage to reach the level of grandour of the original, but it is still a good cover version.

Redrum's ”Victim of our Circumstances” is not characterized by originality, although the musicianship is impeccable. Still, there is so much tasty 80s hard rock on this album that any fan of AOR, melodic hard rock, and melodic metal should find it enjoyable.