Red Sun Rising
Thread
March 30th, 2018
Razor & Tie
For the band’s second full length major label release, Red Sun Rising keeps evolving and their music continues to encompass a number of genres. The band has grown over the past decade, utilizing their experience on the road to craft headbanging worthy tracks for their sophomore release.
Vocalist Mike Protich and lead guitarist Ryan Williams elaborated on the sophomore releases’ title saying that their influences are like threads in a fabric and cannot truly be described by any one particular genre. This follows the band’s use of the #WeAreThread hashtag.
While Thread as a whole is a wonderfully produced album full of catchy lyrics and memorable music, there are a few tracks that immediately stand out to me. Protich’s vocals soar during ‘Stealing Life’, giving the track a massive anthem feel, worthy of arena rock. Williams’ guitar work on ‘Veins’ is perfectly meshed with Protich’s powerhouse vocals, and the band’s passion transitions well into ‘Clarity’. The crunching guitars and soft piano chords of ‘Evil Like You’ makes for the perfect closing track.
I can hear several of the band’s influences scattered throughout the release. While ‘Stealing Life’ reminds me of The Beatles’ ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, the album’s opening track, ‘Fascination’, has a similar vibe to the Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’. Casual listeners may even hear hints of Foo Fighters, Meatpuppets and Soundgarden mixed in.
I haven’t gotten the chance to catch Red Sun Rising live yet, but hearing THREAD has peaked my interest in the band and hopefully I’ll be able to catch one of their shows this spring. I’m very intrigued to find out how well these new tracks mix into the band’s previous recording.
