[ALBUM REVIEW] 'Trading Past for Pathways' - Red Helen

ARTIST: Red Helen

ALBUM NAME: Trading Past For Pathways

RELEASE DATE: February 2017

COUNTRY: South Africa

CITY: Joburg

GENRE: Heavy Metal

MEMBERS:

Vox – Brandon Pratt

Drums – Matt Sletcher

Lead Guitar + vox – Erick Gerber

Bass + backing vox– Greg Van Kerkhof

You can’t accuse Red Helen of rushing things. The Gauteng based, four-piece band formed in 2008, but their first fully fledged album arrived in mid-February 2017 titled ‘Trading Past For Pathways’.

The pace of the 10 tracks on ‘Trading Past For Pathways’ is significant because the furious raw energy on each track makes the album bone shattering. There’s power, there’s weighty aggression and blazing licks to headbang to, as well as impressive singalong choruses.

Standout tracks such as The Collapse and Suicide Notes & Bloodshot Eyes are coherent, have focus and portray a band that have spark. In fact, that spark has been seen time and time again at every live show Red Helen’s performed at. Whether it’s been performing in front of 10 people or 1000 people, the band have always played to their best abilities, and Trading Past For Pathways is no different. The recording quality of the album exceeded most expectations; there are no unholy rackets, tracks flow seamlessly, good thumping percussion and silky vocals make for a winner.

There’s temptation to box Red Helen as Christian metal but that sort of genre branding doesn’t quite fit. Mainly because the lyrics, as subjective as they are, cover many themes from political corruption to grief. And it does help that the band don’t shy away from sounding loud as sin.

The meat of the matter are the songs on Trading Past For Pathways, and Red Helen did a good job shaping, moulding and window dressing what may be the first of many albums. It’s a promising signpost for the future.

‘Trading Past For Pathways’ settles on a well deserved 10/10 rating. From production value, musical composition, vocal contrasts between screaming and clean harmonies as well as meaningful lyrical content, it is almost impossible to fault. Yes we had to wait many years for this release, but if that is how long it takes to produce this quality, we will wait! This album can stand proudly among some of the top international metal releases this year. Congratulations Red Helen, it was worth the wait!