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Red Sand — The Sound of the Seventh Bell
(Unicorn Digital SBPN X, 2021, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2022-03-04

The Sound of the Seventh Bell Cover art

There are so many prog bands operating around the world today that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with them all. I had never heard or even heard of Red Sand before this album reached my desk, and while researching them I found out that this is in fact the band’s tenth album! They were formed in 2004 by guitarist Simon Caron in Quebec City, Canada, releasing their first album, Mirror of Insanity, later that year. Seventeen years and ten albums later, The Sound of the Seventh Bell is a concept album based on the seven deadly sins. The studio recordings are produced by the trio of Simon Caron (electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, compositions, arrangements, and production), Steff (lead and backing vocals), and Perry Angelillo (drums). For touring the band adds bassist André Godbout and keyboardist J.B. Lemire, allowing Caron to concentrate on guitars. For this and the band’s two previous albums, all of the lyrics (in English) were composed by one of Simon Caron’s daughters, Barbara. So what does Red Sand sound like? Not having heard any of the previous nine albums, I can’t get a good sense of a trajectory, only provide a snapshot as to where they are on this particular recording, but their style is squarely in the neo-progressive territory of Cast, early iQ, Clutching era Marillion, and Wish You Were Here era Pink Floyd, the latter especially evident in Caron’s guitar playing, but Steff is an especially adept singer who doesn’t sound like a knock-off of any of the singers that front those other bands. The album’s title track is split into three parts; part one opens the album and features vocals – and it almost sounds like Steff has a female harmony singer, but apparently both parts are his. The second two parts are back-to-back instrumentals that feature later in the album. The closing track, in very proggy style, is the 21-minute epic “Cracked Road,” where many of Caron’s Floydian tendencies are on full display. The CD bonus track (included with the download) is the shorter “I Can Feel It,” but the LP release won’t include that song, but will include six others. A fine album that should appeal to all fans of the prog sound.

Filed under: New releases, 2021 releases

Related artist(s): Red Sand

More info
http://redsand2.bandcamp.com/album/the-sound-of-the-seventh-bell

 

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