Redgrin - Strength in Death

REDGRIN - Strength in Death (Self financed CD 2013)

This CD I got recently from Markus, singer of Redgrin. He’s really cool dude, who in the 90’s used to be a member or thrash / death band called Odious and death metal band Uncreation. Redgrin though is completely new thing, formed few years ago and “Strength in Death” is the first album of the band. I have to say that I never even seen any reviews or any other info related to Redgrin, so I am not sure how many people would know them, but maybe this review will make some of you interested.

Surely they’re good and worthy band, but only in case if you like groovy, kind of modern sounding thrash / death metal, with almost sort of core’ish vibe in some parts. And well, I have to be honest – personally I’m not so much into such kind of music, especially as that death metal influence is just minimal in my opinion haha! But I can hear some good riffs and songs on “Strength in Death” anyway, so at least I cannot say that the time spent on this album was wasted ha! Nope. Definitely there are quite few moments, when Redgrin reminds me early Fear Factory, with some of these heavy groove and specific riffs and rhythms, even the way Markus combines growls with clean vocals. On other time it can sound like Grope, Konkhra and from death metal scene I can probably mention Gorefest from “Erase” album. I’m not an expect from such stuff, but I hope I came up with comparisons that actually make sense.

Well, as I said before, I quite like some of these songs, but generally I’m not so much into this sort of riffs or vocals (which combine growl, scream and deep, cleaner vocals). When played loud though, this album gets a nice powerful and energetic feeling, which is underlined by very good production of “Strength in Death”. And of all the songs, “Sperrfeuer” is my favourite track. It’s killer piece, which even has a small Swedish death metal influence (Grave) mixed with the mentioned Gorefest and the result is heavy as fuck. Also such “Rebellion Proof” belongs to the tracks, which I liked the most. On occasions the band starts to sound a bit repetitive, to be honest, or I’m just tired with the formula of these riffs they play, but that’s just me. All in all, decent album it is.

Standout tracks: “Sperrfeuer”, “Rebellion Proof”

Final rate: 60/100