‘’I am the Storm’’ is already REDEMPTION’s 8th studio release in 20 years of existence. This is the second album with EVERGREY’s main man Tom Englund on vocals. Tom Englund has been a very busy man the last few two years with two EVERGREY releases as well as his own project SILENT SKIES. The band is more of a supergroup project than anything else, they do not do many tours except a short one with DREAM THEATER about 15-16 years ago, and they are more of a studio than anything else.
They started off in 2003 with MAGNITUDE 9’s Corey Brown at the helm but quickly transitioned to FATES WARNING’s Ray Alder for their second album ‘’The Fullness of Time’’. He did five albums with them and shocked the whole world of Metal when he left the band back in 201 to concentrate on other projects including his second solo album and the remainder of the work on the new FATES WARNING material.
In a surprising twist, they chose Tom Englund from EVERGREY as their new frontman. The skepticism was outfought in the forefront, known to be much more of a melancholy-driven singer and powerhouse, he was no Ray Alder. Alder has been one of the best Progressive Rock/Metal singers of the last three decades so it was not easy shoes to fill…
The first effort with Englund was 2018’s ‘’Long Night’s Journey Into Day’’, an acceptable album at most. It was the start of the new collaboration between him and his new band. It felt rushed a bit and uneven, having some good and some bad elements yet it did not feel like a cohesive effort on all fronts. The band did not gel yet and sometimes it takes more than one album to get the chemistry down to a pat. It’s a one-and-done album, you listen to it, it’s fine and you put it back on the shelf. Sometimes the best bands have these types of albums in their careers.
The five years between both albums have helped create and have made the band stronger. The chemistry is starting to happen, it’s still not up to snuff but it’s a step in the right direction. Tom Englund seems so much more relaxed and has adapted himself quite brilliantly to the sound of the band. Being in his own band for a quarter of a decade had made him a bit one-dimensional as a singer. REDEMPTION has given him the chance to show off another side of his singing, a less linear approach, especially on this new opus.
He feels so much more comfortable, and it shows, specifically on the title track. He sings like he was there all through their musical career and displays his much more powerful side. He is one of the most emotionally driving singers of all of metal, heart on his sleeve kind of guy, who leaves everything on the table. He can belt it out, be less reserved than in EVERGREY and make sure that the audience is listening. I was pleasantly surprised to see another side of him and he finally let loose on this album. If he was hesitant at first with their first album together, well he is not now that’s for certain.
The biggest difference between this new album and ‘’Long Night’s Journey Into Day’’ is the fact the vocals do not take a backseat to the progressive metal mastery behind it. The music is downright awesome, some of the progressive metal music you will hear all day, but it doesn’t take up the whole space of the album and that’s a great thing. The band has adapted quite well to this dynamic and the album grows on you because of this approach.
There is however also a stagnancy in place, much like on the previous album. Englund, whose voice is as strong as it ever was – and he manages, despite his strengths, to take his rightful place in songs. He knows when to shut it down, he knows when to drop in with his vocals, and everything seems to be more upfront. It feels so much more structured than the last album, even the last one with Ray Alder. Some of the material would demand the vocalist to go further toward the climaxes, but Englund mostly delivers with uniform clarity. Great, but not awesome, and he takes a rightful back seat to the instrumentals, letting the album shine where it matters most; there’s plenty of variable material, yet sticks to the darkness and familiarity. The title track is one of the album’s strongest songs in their catalog, and one of the most inspired pieces on here.
The musical tapestry herein is vivid and imaginative, staying true to the latter-day course of REDEMPTION stylistics, and opening strong with five of REDEMPTION’s fleshiest tracks. The first half hour of the album is ridiculously strong, setting things off on the right foot with a cleverly penned title track opener and stretching through a couple of massive tracks that take the very best of REDEMPTION and pour them into interesting ideas and cool structures.
The two covers are a nice addition to the album, doing a GENESIS cover and a Peter Gabriel cover on the same album! The progressive rock legends have influenced pretty much any band in the genre so this is a way of thanking them, in a sense. They did a banging job on ‘’Turn it on Again’’, one of the more upbeat songs in their strong library. They always like to throw in a cover or two on their albums including an incredible rendition of ‘’Love Reign o’er Me’’ by THE WHO. I appreciate it when they do that and you never know what they will cover next.
“I Am The Storm” is the strongest REDEMPTION album since ‘’This Mortal Coil’’. The band needed a fresh start and this album is the right remedy. They click on all cylinders and the chemistry is evergrowing with the new singer, the focus is back and the energy is on display for the world to see. The progressive metal masters are back and let’s hope for a new your in 2023 and beyond!
