Redwest
Crimson Renegade
Bakerteam Records
2016
Redwest is a Milanese sextet with a couple of EPs in their history, debuting now with a been influenced by a multitude of bands that go about the whole pistolero/western/mariachi sound ala Gypsy Pistoleros, Volbeat (up to a point) and a few more. There are even hints of Metallica’s James Hetfield, cattle herding “yeaaaahhh’s” in the ending of the odd word here or there… Spaghetti/Western Metal, these Italians call it. I’d probably say it’s not really metal but more, hard/heavy rock influenced… metal would need some “serious” distortion etc… more aggression etc.
I suppose I might dance around to a couple of songs ie the spirited “Crimson Renegade” or jumpy “BulletRain” even the jiggy “Poker”, if I was drunk enough and they came up in a fest, but I would hardly “seek them out”. A couple of more songs like the instrumental “Golden Sands” or the non “Ballad of Eddie W” that’s wanna be load Metallica gone mariachi are interesting but, that’s about it.
Il Lurido, the singer, could try to sound a bit less spaghetti/Italian and La Straniera, a female backing vocalist, sort of aids with some nicer sounding vocals that soften up the overall sound; I’d feature her a bit more. Also while the production is clear, it really lacks punch and the band could really sound a little tighter as the go through some nice little parts, ie the intro of “Fire” really carelessly. A faster version of the song might have been actually pretty good, or at least one that mixed tempi and created some real dynamic contrast within the song. They have a few decent ideas and something good could come out, but they’d have to try quite better to make it “big” in the wild, wild west of Milan!
I suppose I might dance around to a couple of songs ie the spirited “Crimson Renegade” or jumpy “BulletRain” even the jiggy “Poker”, if I was drunk enough and they came up in a fest, but I would hardly “seek them out”. A couple of more songs like the instrumental “Golden Sands” or the non “Ballad of Eddie W” that’s wanna be load Metallica gone mariachi are interesting but, that’s about it.
Il Lurido, the singer, could try to sound a bit less spaghetti/Italian and La Straniera, a female backing vocalist, sort of aids with some nicer sounding vocals that soften up the overall sound; I’d feature her a bit more. Also while the production is clear, it really lacks punch and the band could really sound a little tighter as the go through some nice little parts, ie the intro of “Fire” really carelessly. A faster version of the song might have been actually pretty good, or at least one that mixed tempi and created some real dynamic contrast within the song. They have a few decent ideas and something good could come out, but they’d have to try quite better to make it “big” in the wild, wild west of Milan!