 :
The Key To Success
A new star is born to fascinate all Power Metal
fans. The newly founded band is called RedKey
and the five-some has just released its debut
album .Rage of Fire.. Even though we are talking
about a debut album, the musicians themselves
aren.t newcomers at all. Many of you probably
are familiar with vocalist Thomas Rettke and guitarist
Sascha Paeth who, back in the late .80s and early
.90s were the heart and soul of the Metal band
.Heaven.s Gate.. Their albums IN CONTROL (1989)
and LIVIN. IN HYSTERIA (1991) were internationally
acclaimed and in South East Asia the band was
treated like royalty in league with Judas Priest
and Helloween.
Once the band broke up Rettke and Paeth decided
on different paths for their future endeavours.
In .99 after the release of MENERGY Paeth started
to work as producer and became a sought after
expert in the trade. He produced well-known Rock
acts such as Edguy, Kamelot and Rhapsody as well
as the latter.s mastermind Luca Turilli.s solo
albums. Rettke on the other hand acted a guest
musician to various bands. Not a single one of
Rhapsody.s albums has been recorded without featuring
his vocals and bands like Edguy, Kamelot, Running
Wild, Victory and Mob Rules also didn.t want to
recording without him singing. Rettke also played
a major part in the Metal Opera AINA . DAYS OF
RISING DOOM. Here we are more than seven years
after the last recording of Heaven.s Gate and
both Rettke and Paeth are working together again.
Says Rettke, .I had a lot of ideas for songwriting
and eventually I met up with Sascha last year
to let him hear what I was up to. He immediately
offered to record some of the demos and also added
most of the guitar arrangements. When I asked
Sascha whether he.d be interested in us playing
together once again it was the renaissance of
our musical co-operation.
Another of their old friends was also ready and
willing to once again start playing in a band,
guitarist André Barowski, who used to be part
of Steeltower . Rettke.s and Paeth.s band previous
to Heaven.s Gate. Daniel Eichholz on drums and
bassist Klemens Klarhorst joined RedKey and together
they recorded RAGE OF FIRE. The album has its
roots in traditional Melodic Metal but is so varied
that fans of the more modern styles of Heavy Metal
will also love the new output. We never considered
a reunion of Heaven.s Gate. Some of the former
band members have turned their backs on music
altogether and I wanted to work with new and highly
motivated musicians to create a different sound.
RedKey.s music is a lot rougher and straighter
that Heaven.s Gate.s used to be., says Rettke.
Immediately following the intro RAGE OF FIRE.s
title track starts of fusing the best of NWOBHM,
like Judas Priest in the early .80s, with elements
of guitar oriented US-Power Metal the likes of
Racer X, Vicious Rumors or (Wicked) Maraya. The
following track .Be My Guide. is dark and monumental
and due to the variety of Rettke.s vocals and
the virtuous guitar playing puts one in the mind
of artists like Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford.
.Rebellion. is a rhythmic hymn with a fantastic
sing-along refrain in the vein of Judas Priest.s
PAINKILLER.
Regardless of whether you listen to the lead-guitar-duels
in .Peace & War., the perfect fusion of slow rhythm
and staccato riffing in .Easy Way Out. or the
melodic .Obsession., all tracks are arranged up
to today.s standards, powerful guitars along with
expressive vocals to make any headbanger want
to do just that . bang along. The 8-minute epic
.The Fortune. perfectly rounds off the album.
Rettke and Edguy.s front man Tobias Sammet sing
a duet that sums up what RedKey and their debut
are about. RAGE OF FIRE is a unique and first
class Melodic and atmospheric Power Metal album
and is sure to be RedKey.s key to success to a
brilliant future on the international Power Metal
stages.
LINE-UP:
Thomas Rettke - Lead & Backing Vocals
Sascha Paeth - Guitars
Andrč Borawski - Guitars
Klemens Klarhorst - Bass
Daniel Eichholz - Drums
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