Red Rose | Live The Life You’ve Imagined
by Nikiforos Skoumas
Staff Writer —
Live the Life You’ve Imagined is the debut album by Israeli melodic hard rock group Red Rose. The line up features singer Leve Laiter, guitarist Elnur Aliev, keyboardist Deion Kristen and bassist Elli Reeve. Red Rose’s debut was produced by renowned Danish metal/hard rock producer Tommy Hansen.
The album has a strong epic, neo-classical feeling when it comes to the instrumental melodies which could lead one to labeling Red Rose a melodic metal band. However, the album brings to front a fair balance between guitars and keyboards, emphasizing the melodic aspects of both instruments effectively making the experience more intriguing while also bringing greater definition to the songwriting.
To their credit Red Rose arranges their music in such a way allowing all instruments to shine on each song. Beyond the expected melodic guitar lines and keyboards harmonies you also get a good deal of unconventional drumming, which alters itself along the song structure. For that matter, the rhythm section of Red Rose often enters metal territory with outbursts of double bass drumming and thick cymbals.
The dilemma of whether Red Rose is a hard rock or metal band, is rooted to the progressive nature of their songwriting. Typically, from the opening riff of each song up to its chorus, you find changes in tempos, in the mood of the vocals even the musical key of the composition is bound to change. Still the melodies provide the only consistency amongst arrangements which could be regarded as the glue that keeps the structures together. In addition, most songs have fairly memorable choruses which commonly manage to shine despite the various twists and turns of each composition.
“Voice of the Night” is probably the album’s strongest moment sounding very much like Journey-gone-metal thanks to its subtle melodies, positive attitude and instrumental intermission/passage. “Tough to Love” opens as a straightforward riff-driven rocker yet developing into one of the most progressive songs of the album. “The Last Drop” is an epic ballad, melody-wise baring a strong neoclassical essence complemented ideally by Laiter’s singing. “Name of the Stone” is the heroic hard rocker addressing war, personal struggles and the will to overcome hardships reminiscent of the earlier works of melodic hard rockers Ten.
It has to be addressed that with a total of eight songs the Red Rose debut is hardly a complete offering; having said that, it will take a fair amount of plays for the average melodic rock/hard rock fan to come to terms with the songs on Live the Life You’ve Imagined; far from the stereotypical melodic hard rock album indeed.
Genre: Melodic Hard Rock / Melodic Metal / Progressive Metal
Lineup:
Leve Laiter – Vocals
Elnur Aliev – Guitars
Deion Kristen – Keyboards
Eli Reeve – Bass
Track Listing:
01. Turn Back The Time
02. Name On The Stone
03. The Last Drop
04. Gone With The Sunrise
05. Live The Life You’ve Imagined
06. Dreamer
07. Tough To Love
08. When The Sun Goes Down
Label: Bakerteam Records
Hardrock Haven rating: 7/10