By: Anders

Posted: Jun 20, 2006

The day I stop discovering new and exciting progressive metal bands, will sure be a sad day. Though I don't expect that day to surface soon. Red Circuit is yet a new band, and "Trance State" is their debut, though all the musicians in the band are well known to the scene, as they have roamed it for quite some time. The band was formed by Markus Teske, godly keyboarder and good producer. With him he has singer Chity Sompala, guitarist Oliver Noerdlinger, bassist Tommy Schmitt and drummer Frank Bodenheimer. And a real progressive metal album without a guest performance or 2? Hell no, on "Trance State" the 3 following guitarists have delivered a solo, Stephan Lill (Vanden Plas), Stephan Forte (Adagio) and Patrick Rondat (Elegy and so much more).

The band has their roots in guitar driven progressive rock, with nice metallic leads, building the songs up and drives them ahead. All the time a lot of electronic elements are mixed into the music, be it keyboards, synth or samples, and I have to say it has been done tasteful, the guitars do more or less always have the lead, while the synth builds up the atmospheres and delivers the needed seasoning.

Vocal-wise the album is a treat, I guess most of you know Chity from his former bands Avalon and Firewind, and his voice and capabilities. He sings like a dream, a powerful, yet fragile and varied vocal, very emotional and melodic, it must be a composers dream to have such a voice to build the music around.

The compositions are well made, catchy as hell, without loosing their edge, the songs are always evolving and most of them consist of a good deal of layers to dig into. The good song is the focal point, but we for sure aren't spared for technical goodies.

Markus Teske has produced the album himself, with help from Andy Kuntz, and the result is of course good. The music is powerful and heavy, the single instruments have a lot of space, so all the details are heard. The mix is good and doesn't leave out any details as well. A good production with the weight on the right things, and not dull or thin, as it happens once in a while, concerning progressive metal albums, this production is very heavy.

With a debut album as "Trance State" and with the capacity Red Circuit has, I am sure we can await a good bunch of amazing albums from the Germans. This album is indeed good and enchanting and worth many hours of listening. A traditional, yet a bit different take on progressive metal, this could be the future...

Rating: 9/10

Red Circuit website

Red Circuit interview

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