There were times when I wanted to have all music that even remotely smelled like prog rock on LP or CD and so I bought it. That's no longer the case, I buy much less now and only if I really like it. Except for a few mistakes, this makes my CD collection manageable and above all, listenable. There are many bands of which I think the music is quite good but just not enough to make a physical purchase, in my case a CD. That really doesn't mean that I don't enjoy listening to their music, but I'm not a pure collector in the sense that I want to have as many CDs as possible. Well, such a band is the British Red Bazar. I have listened to all their previous albums but never bought a CD and I was curious if their latest album, Blood Moon, could change my mind. The album contains eight songs and there are a number of them with a considerable playing time and that often makes me a bit more curious. I was completely surprised when I saw that Peter Jones, where doesn't he play, took care of the vocals and keyboards. They describe themselves on bandcamp as prog metal and opener Fall On Your Own Sword seems to confirm this, heavy guitars and screaming vocals predominate. This is actually not really how I remember their music, heavy but not so heavy. Distorted vocals and screeching guitar work in the middle part, not really much variation. Is this really Jones singing? Fortunately, the dreamy, a bit jazzy, ending is beautiful. I hope the whole album isn't like this, I thought. Second track, When The World Burns starts with quiet acoustic guitar picking on a bed of keys and finally I hear Peter Jones singing here as we know him and that is a lot more pleasant to listen to. The guitar solo after three minutes is nice and the whole song exudes a nice atmosphere. If you call a track High Velocity, you create the expectation that the pace will be high and that's very much so. This instrumental song leaves a lot of room for the solo guitar but we also hear a smooth keyboard solo and all that accompanied by a dazzling rhythm section consisting of Paul Comerie on drums and Mick Wilson on bass. With Start Again, a song of more than ten minutes is on the playlist next and here Red Bazar is at its best for me. Nothing to do with prog metal and Jones sings at his best again, it is a bit jazzy now and then. Baron's Eyes also starts quiet and jazzy but flies back into scream mode after three minutes and then picks up this thread again after a small piece of Camel. The lyrics are based on a Sherlock Holmes story. The short, instrumental Fighting Force shows a passionate band and Andy Wilson's guitar is very dominant. Not quite my guitarist but certainly well played, I just miss the emotion. Since I've described all the songs so far, I'll continue with that and come up with Over, another track that passes the seven minute mark. Great song with little metal but a powerful end with indeed some screaming. As is often the case, the longest song is saved for last and so it is, the title track lasts more than twelve minutes and starts with a staccato structure. For me, a lot, if not everything, revolves around beautiful and memorable melodies and I miss them a bit. There is a lot of quite heavy music, but I wouldn't call it prog metal. I had to check several times if it is really Jones who sings everything because the vocals are sometimes so aggressive. The finale is beautiful and confirms for me what I already knew, Red Bazar makes music that I sometimes really like but just not always. Despite a number of very spicy pieces, I wouldn't want to dismiss Blood Moon as prog metal, it's way too varied for that and besides, you might scare away possible listeners who read that. To go back to the beginning, this will be another one of those "just not a purchase" albums but I can listen to large parts of this music with pleasure. The advice then, as always, is listen and judge for yourself. *** Erik Fraanje (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
