Instinctive Rock

RED: Innocence and Instinct
Rating: * * * * ½

A band’s sophomore album is a good test to see if a band will endure. RED exploded onto the Christian Rock scene in 2006 with End of Silence. Of all of the new bands to release albums that year, Red is one that stood out. Few bands in the world of music have a sound like Red’s. They combine orchestral music with hard rock. Innocence and Instinct had been greatly anticipated and Red did not let their fans down.

The opening track “Fight Inside” sounds a lot like some of the songs on Red’s first album but its still a well written, well-preformed song. The next song “Death of Me” is a hard rocker but is only a taste of what is still coming on the album. The next four tracks, “Mystery Of You,” “Start Again,” “Never Be The Same, and “Confession,” though lumped together here, are each memorable songs with exquisite rock hooks, beautiful piano and strings, and haunting lyrics. The song “Shadows” is one of the most memorable tracks on the album and “Ordinary World” (a cover of Duran Duran) is also a great surprise. The last two songs, “Out From Under” and “Take It All Away,” wrap the album up very nicely. “Take It All Away” is different from the rest of the tracks. It is slower paced with quieter, but no less haunting, lyrics.

Red passed the sophomore album test with flying colors. Innocence and Instinct is an improvement on their first album, End Of Silence. Red kept the elements that captured their fans attention and even improved on them. I look forward to this band being around for a long time.