MUSIC FOR SHARKS

Canadian four piece formation Red Sand have released seven studio albums between 2004 and 2016, this review is about their fourth effort, from 2009. A year before Red Sand had produced a live DVD entitled Au Cabaret Du Liquor Store. I was very pleased with their performance on stage. And many times carried away by the compelling parts, loaded with howling guitar solos and majestic violin-Mellotron waves, the early Marillion hints are obvious. So how about Red Sand their musical direction on Music For Sharks?

Well, on their fourth album Red Sand still sounds like early Marillion, due to the wonderful and moving guitar work by Simon Caron, many compelling solos with the use of the tremolo-arm (in the vein of Steve Rothery). But the musical direction has moved more towards modern Pendragon, also because singer Mathieu Lessand his voice sounds pretty similar to Nick Barrett (with the same melancholical undertone). And in comparison with their previous studio-album Human Trafficking, I notice a more omnipresent role of the keyboards. This is also done by Simon Caron: from church organ in Empty Calendar and a flashy synthesizer solo in Love And Music to soaring keyboards in Sad Song. And the Mellotron can be enjoyed in its full splendor in most of the five alternating tracks, always a Big Plus.

The absolute highlight on this new CD is the long composition Shark Man (more than 15 minutes): it starts with angry vocals in a bombastic atmosphere with tight drums, then lots of changing climates (from dreamy with piano and warm vocals to a mid-tempo with sensational work on keyboards and guitar), culminating in a compelling build-up and a great grand finale: a sensitive electric guitar solo, accompanied by lush Mellotron and synthesizers, this is Prog Heaven!

What a wonderful blend of Neo-Prog and Old School keyboards, highly recommended.