Released By : Self Released
Genre : Instrumental Progressive Metal
Link : http://www.josephmagazine.net/
Tracklist:
1. Beginning
2. Vision
3. Self-Examination
4. Liquid Dream
5. Holy Land
6. Wormwood
7. Tower
8. Heremit
9. Reflection
10. Flashback
11. Night Of The Red Sky
12. Thorn Piece Of The Sky
Well, well, well……I must admit I’m surprised at how much I liked this debut album from JOSEPH MAGAZINE ( A band name, not an individual person). See, NIGHT OF THE RED SKY is an instrumental only progressive metal release, and I don’t usually go for that sort of thing. Yes, I love progressive metal when it’s done right, but usually I need interesting lyrics and convincing vocals if I’m really going to get into something.
Where this album succeeds mostly is in the superb technicality and musicianship that is found through each track. Yes there are a quite a few instances where it all sounds a bit like showing off for the sake of it, but because there’s no vocals here to drive the melody each track HAD to be filled up with interesting patches to warrant not skipping over to the next one. The band have created some concept here and the CD booklet contains a small twelve part tale about the journey one takes within themselves to discover who they truly are (or something along those lines anyway), but I don’t really buy into that side of it, once again because of the lack of lyrics, I’ve also always though that instrumental based music is best let for the individual listener to get what they want out of it.
Unfortunately there’s not a huge market for this type of release, and there isn’t any way to convert folks over to instrumental albums if they’re not already that way inclined. If however, you are partial to the occasional flit about with some technically minded non-vocal progressive metal then you could do much worse that NIGHT OF THE RED SKY, and in fact you may just fall victim to its charm as I have the more I listen to it.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 8/10
About Author
