RED | Gone | Album Review

As a musician, it's an honor to reflect on your past work and look back at the legacy you have forged for youself. That is the main theme behind the sixth studio album from Red entitled "Gone". In the eleven years that the band has impacted the rock world, it is clear that they are one of the most underappreciated and consistent bands ever to be included in the genre. With five previous discs under their roof that all have a unique identity to them without feeling generic and an extremely dedicated fanbase that will support the band any way they can and find something in their music to gravitate towards, it's hard not to feel good about the music you have put your all into and make an album representing that feeling. What's also interesting is that the band is approaching this album as if it is their last album they'll ever make, which is a strong motive the band has had in the past but this time it also ties in with the other big theme of looking back at your accomplishments in your career and other themes that Red has touched upon before. As a person who has followed Red since "Innocence And Instinct" in 2009, knowing that the band uses this as a motivator to make each album better than the last is always encouraging. This may be the reason why each album they've made doesn't feel like the same as before, but it also shows how much they've improved over the years, especially on this new record. 

Oddly enough, information about "Gone" and its release weren't made clear until the middle of September, with the two main singles from the album coming a few days after the announcement. The two singles, "Still Alive" and "Losing Control", which are both adjacent to each other in the track listing show the qualities that this band has in their songwriting and music composition but in their own unique ways. While "Still Alive" feels like it is definitely built for radio with its simpler song structure, "Losing Control" is the track that shows the band's strongest tactics and ends up being one of the highlights of the entire album. This is proof that Red is not afraid of expanding their instrumental palette with the use of a horn section in their familiar orchestral backings as well as a low eight string tuning to add some meat to its guitar riffage as it paints the picture of the band not straying away from their sound but still managing to add some different elements to make the experience more unique. It's no surprise that Randy Armstrong's knack for writing creative riffs is intact, but with the 8-string tuning I feel there is another layer added to an already phenomenal song. The rest of the band also adds to the song with their roles, such as Anthony's basswork and especially the vocals of Mike Barnes which are crazy good on this song and the drumming provided by former member Joe Rockard who apparently did all of the drums for this album. These two tracks are only a glimpse into what you'll hear whenever examining this disc for the first time. 

Describing this album's tone, "Gone" is not as basic and simple as "End Of Silence", but it's not as complex as "Of Beauty And Rage". It's not nearly as soft as "Until We Have Faces", but it's also not as dark and brooding as "Innocence And Instinct". There is a sense that Red is trying some new things here, but it isn't as big of a departure as "Release The Panic". Like with all of the other albums, "Gone" is its own unique entity, and you get that feeling throughout the entirety of the album. One notable track is the band's second recorded cover of a Sia song of all things, that being the song "Unstoppable". It's hard to play a cover song while also keeping the theme of the album strong and vibrant, especially if it's a pop song. With this track, however, Red handle it with care but add their own unique take on the song to make it something really worth checking out. This is also one of the tracks on the disc that features a more prominent use of electronics (even though there still are guitars featured), and that is another angle that they explore, notably on the title track where the two sides of rock and electronic clash with each other but don't make for two completely different songs. The band knows what they're doing in this department and adding that style to the song gives it a unique double-edged sword that can cut with precision. It's proof that Red doesn't necessarily need an orchestra and heavy riffs to completely satisfy the listener as they have many different qualities to them that work to their benefit. 

Aside from that, the album also boasts many surprises along the way, such as a majority of tracks on here having a Starset vibe to them, which is probably due to Starset's frontman Dustin Bates helping out in the writing sessions of a couple of songs as well as with Rob Graves' production. "Losing Control" definitely features this, but you can make comparisons with many other songs here, and you can see that some of these tracks coincidentally sound similar, especially the bookends. "Step Inside The Violence" opens up the album and at points sounds like "Satellite" from Starset's latest album "Vessels", but turned up a little bit heavier. Both tracks are great album openers that introduce listeners to their respective discs. "AI" follows in vein with "Losing Control" in that both songs have cinematic and atmospheric verses leading into bombastic choruses, the only difference being the minute-long orchestral outro at the end of "AI". "Singularity", the album's closer (well, for the standard edition, anyway), has similarities wiith another Starset track off of "Vessels" entitled "Everglow", where both songs have mostly atmospheric qualities until the final part of the song where everything comes to an explosive end. I'm not trying to make this a comparative review to another album from another band in any way, but when you really look at these songs, it does reveal how similar they are to Starset, but also shows that the songs work in their own unique way. Even tracks that do not carry as much of a resemblance such as "Chasing Your Echo", "Fracture", and the epic ballad "Coming Apart" feature their own strengths and are executed phenomenally. 

If there is a tiny dose of criticism I must deliver to this album, it's that the album is only ten tracks. Even though there is the digital deluxe edition which features a bonus song "The Mask Slips Away" as well as remixes and reconstructed versions of songs off of this album, I get the feeling that this could have easily been a 12 track album. But, when you start to realize that all of these songs are fantastic, that transcends any gentle complaint one could throw this album's way. Simply put, Red still can do no wrong with any album they release, and it's actually impressive that Red has gone six albums without making one that seems like mostly filler. If you really enjoy Red and their previous albums, I cannot imagine disappointment in the final product because it's another album from Red that has everything you really want and more. There is experimentation but it isn't too polarizing or off-putting. Rather, the experiments this disc showcases really give the songs their own flavor and identity. It's definitely not as good as "Innocence And Instinct", or even "Of Beauty And Rage", but there are still absolutely no filler or unnecessary tracks to be found anywhere in this album, and that's the Red standard in my opinion. Overall, this will fit very snug among the list of albums I think are the best of the year, and it has enough shades of red in order to paint its position on that list. 

RATING: 9/10

What did you think about the record? Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know in the comments below. And of course, these are only my opinions. If your opinions are different, awesome! If they're similar, then that's great, too. So, don't hesitate- comment to me about it down below. Take care.