dtguitarfan This is the album that finally convinced me that I loved Redemption. After this album, I went back to their older albums and discovered I loved them too, but before this album I used to tell a good friend of mine who was a big Redemption fan that I felt like the band was 5 instrumentalists soloing at the same time. When I heard this album, I felt like I was hearing how the band had matured and cohered. I remember also that it seemed like every time I listened to this album, my favorite song on the album changed as I discovered I loved another song on the album. It is still hard to pick a favorite, though I would like to mention the song, Keep Breathing. This song was written by one of the two guitarists, Nick Van Dyk, about his daughter Parker, who has a degenerative disease causing her to lose her eyesight. The lyrics explain how as a father he can't stand to see his daughter in pain, but at the same time is amazed at her strength and bravery and tells her that it inspires him to go on. As a Progressive Metal fan, this doesn't happen to me very often, but the first time I heard this song I had to pull over as the tears began to flow. The whole album is powerful, and don't be surprised if your speedometer begins to climb as you listen to this album.

Doomster (Notice: Originally written by me to the ProgArchives on 7/15/11, with a few minor adjustments.)

This is the debut self-titled album of the American progressive metal act, Redemption. Redemption was formed in the early 2000's by guitarist and various instrumentalist Nick Van Dyke. Rick Mythiasin is the vocalist on this record (who sadly left sometime before the band's second album, "The Fullness of Time", was recorded), Bernie Versiallies on lead guitar, and Jason Rullo on drums (who also left the band sometime after, unfortunately).

This is a great debut to start off Redemption's career. The music is raw and powerful, with little signs of weakness. Specifically the keyboards on this record shine unlike on any other Redemption record, though at very little times they can be out of place.

The first song is a 4-track suite, entitled "Desperation", based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. The first part is the heaviest and my personal favorite, with soaring guitar melodies and good drumming to back them up, as well as a lovely orchestral intro. When the vocals kick in, however, you realise the production isn't that great. The vocals are lovely and melodic, and one of the best parts of the album, but the subpar production does not do them justice. Part 2 greets us with a somewhat cheesy ballad, but it is still good nonetheless and has it's moments of strength. Part 3 starts off with a bang and some really outstanding keyboard work. It's probably the fastest song in the suite, if not the whole album, and the second heaviest in the suite. The vocals can get very agressive at times. The chorus is very beautiful and majestic, with lyrics concering a battle between God and Satan to claim the souls once and for all. Part 4 starts off almost as fast as Part 3, if not as fast. It has some great vocal melodies and very nice lyrics to boot, as well as more agressive vocals. It ends with a similar orchestral passage like that in the beginning of Part 1, this time backed up by the full band, ending the suite.

After that journey, we are introduced to our first separate track, "Nocturnal". This song is without a doubt the heaviest on the album, with heavy riffs and great keyboard melodies, as well as a soaring chorus. This is sure to please any fans of the heavier side of prog, such as I. It's just too bad it's so short.

The next track, "Window To Space", is the first out of two single-track epics on the album. Window to Space is the shorter of the two, being 13 minutes and 26 seconds long. The song starts with a somewhat creepy guitar riff accompanied by haunting chanting, and some very nice, soft progressive movements halfway through the first minute, followed by vocals with Rick Mythiasin at his best. The softness doesn't last long, however - 2 and-a half-minutes in we get some prog metal heaviness and more agressive vocals, though not as agressive as some in the previous tracks. The lyrics give off a very nice and hopeful feel to them, and overall this is a good half-ballad. Their is a somewhat odd guitar solo at 11 minutes, and the hopeful lyrics shine again. The song ends with the same acoustic riff as it started with.

The next track, "As I Lay Dying", starts off with a good building up with some nice keyboard melodies. The lyrics appear to be about an Atheist who excepts God within the last few minutes of his life. The best part comes in at 2 minutes with a nice chorus, "Will it all go on after I am gone?" The song ends shortly after. There's not that much to say about it because it isn't a very eventful song, but it's still a great song nonetheless. This song acts as a great opener to the closing song...

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" is, without a doubt, the highlight of the album. It's based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury (which I reccommend anyone to read as I am currently reading it), and by the first 15 seconds of the song, what with it's haunting melodies and creeping vocals, you can tell this will be a ride. It is a whopping 24 and-a-half-minutes long, longer than any Redemption song to date. The first heavy riff comes half-a-minute in, and loops a few times before going into the full beginning of the song. The first 4 minutes or so of the song aren't that melodically powerful, but afterwards there is lots and lots of strength and melody behind every word Mythiasin puts into his voice as well as the music. At 15 minutes we get an awesome Iron Maiden-like galloping riff and some interesting vocals at half. We get some beautiful vocal melodies at 18 to 20 minutes, and finally leads up to the climax at 21 minutes with some of the most hauntingly melodic vocals in Redemption's entire career. After another 2 minutes we get the final stanza of lyrics, and the song ends quite happily.

It might come off as a surprise to some Redemption fans when I say that this is, I think, their best album. The vocals and instrumentations are beautiful, exotic melodies, and haunting vocals with surprisingly good lyrics. Mythiasin is better than Alder in my eyes and adds more atmosphere to Redemption's work. A quintessential record - highly reccommended to fans of progressive metal.

Stephen 'This Mortal Coil' probably won't surprise anyone since what they offered here are basically what prog/power metal would expect, but question is, will the songs deliver? I probably can't compare much to their prior albums since I'm not a big fan of the band and haven't carefully listen to all albums, but what I can say is that Redemption was struggling to keep up the quality of the first half, hence you will feel slightly disappointed as they're slowly going down the hill.

Some great songs here that probably should be included in a Redemption compilation, in case you're building one, are 'Path of The Whirlwind', with its hurricane twisting intro and powerful rhythm, this is simply awesome; second should be 'Blink of An Eye', from the chaotic rhythm and great melodic beginning to the acrobatic drumming and nice keyboard solo, this is the track that every prog/powerheads had dream about. 'No Tickets To The Funeral' should be the last third great track here, a fast-paced rhythm with excellent guitar showcase made up a hell of a track.

Now aside from those three, Redemption failed to create anything bombastic. 'Dreams From The Pit' is nice but didn't impress me much. However, it's an interesting track with dynamic tempo and furious guitars. 'Let It Rain' is a good prog ballad but too long at 7 minutes. 'Focus' and 'Begin Again' are pretty good but the rest are totally passable.

In short words, 'This Mortal Coil' isn't up the standard to compete with the high rollers this year such as Dream Theater, Anubis Gate, Lost In Thought, or Symphony X, but not a bad album at all. Fans of Symphony X, Fates Warning, or prog in general, could chew this up easily, but I can see that many rated it fairly average. I think it's around 65%-70% for me and it's quite on par with Arch/Matheos' 'Symphatetic Resonance' as its closest peer.

Conor Fynes 'This Mortal Coil' - Redemption (5/10)

Being formed by members of Symphony X and Fate's Warning, it does not come as much of a surprise that Redemption are one of the most talked about progressive metal bands these days. Now close to a decade old, this supergroup has now put out five albums, all falling within a fairly close style to its parent acts. 'This Mortal Coil' is the most recent album from these titans, and anyone who has heard what Redemption is all about before should have a good idea of what to expect here. Redemption's latest falls into an ever-growing category of albums that while incredibly impressive from a production and performance standpoint, ultimately fails to move me in any way. For all of the talent exerted here, it is all the more disappointing that the end result is little more than a run-of-the-mill melodic power metal record.

Glorious things have been done in the past by both Fate's Warning and Symphony X, and I would even have some great things to say about some of the music that Redemption has released in the past. However, I get the feeling that the label of prog metal is being watered down now to the point where it is perhaps unintentionally crossing over into power metal and even melodic rock much more than it did when the fusion of prog and heavy metal was still young. If there is one thing that progressive metallers and Redemption in particular have however, it is musical skill. This is a well-produced album with strong performance and even a handful of jaw-dropping instrumental sections. The times where the band breaks into technical segments or solos is where Redemption really shines, sounding a great deal like the bombastic instrumentals of Symphony X. Sadly, the proggy moments have been toned down on 'This Mortal Coil' in favour of more melodies.

All in all, the melodies and songwriting here are both fairly good, although it is most often predictable. One thing that surprised me here was the voice of Ray Alder, for the fact that his delivery here is so much different than his work with Fate's Warning that I have heard; he aims towards a soothing melodic delivery that nails pitch perfectly, yet I can't say that I prefer this dimension of Alder. I would never deny that Redemption have talent- they are in fact a collaboration of some of the most gifted and enduring musicians in progressive metal. All the same, their work on 'This Mortal Coil' feels tame and predictable. This streamlined effort is reminiscent of the disappointment I felt with Symphony X's latest release. Where I'm left wanting a roller coaster, I'm stuck riding a tilt-a-whirl, albeit a very well-oiled one.

UMUR "Redemption" is the debut full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Redemption. The album was released in March 2003 by Sensory Records.

Redemption is the brainchild of guitarist/ bassist/ keyboardist Nicolas Van Dyk. There are quite a few prolific progressive metal musicians playing on the album though and I´m tempted to call this an all-star cast. Rick Mythiasin (Pantera, New Eden, Taraxacum, Steel Prophet) is the lead vocalist, Jason Rullo (Symphony X) plays the drums and Bernie Versailles (Agent Steel, Engine, Fates Warning) plays lead guitars. In addition to that we have Ray Alder (Fates Warning, Engine) guesting on lead vocals on song 2 "Desperation Part II", Mark Zonder (Fates Warning, Slaviour) guesting on drums on song 7 "As I Lay Dying" and Michael Romeo (Symphony X) who contributes with orchestration on song 1 "Desperation Part I" and song 4 "Desperation Part IV".

The music on the album is progressive metal. Heavy riffs, keyboards and high pitched vocals. High quality compositions and musicianship but really nothing unusual for the genre. There are 8 tracks on the album. The first 4 tracks "Desperation I-IV" make up a lyrical concept and they seque into each other. The last song is a 24:00 minute long track so the music is pretty challenging. While the music and the musicianship is of high quality the production really drags the album down. The sound is thin and lacks bass. The only time I hear the bass is in the song "Window To Space" where it has a kind of lead part. On the rest of the album the bass is not audible at all. There´s also something wrong with how the keyboards are placed in the mix. Sometimes they´re not very audible. I can hear that they are there but I can´t hear what they are playing. A really bad production this one.

Now when I see all the names mentioned above I expect something extraordinaire but I think this is a pretty "run of the mill" progressive metal album. No surprises and a bad production really don´t do anything positive for the album. There´s nothing wrong with the musicianship or the compositions as such, The compositions could however have been written by almost any progressive metal act. I think Redemption seriously lack an original sound on this album. When those complaints have been voiced "Redemption" is still a pretty good progressive metal album and a 3 star rating is deserved.