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Looking at the back Cover of RED BEE’s debut album Ictus, you see the songs are numbered in Roman Numerals, and this is your first warning of what’s about to happen once you open the case and load that Disc into your player. From the very first note you feel what being attacked by the entire Roman Army would’ve been like… Your Blood rushes through your veins, your Senses are heightened and then you are Destroyed by what stands before you… RED BEE.
RED BEE fall into that Prog Metal section of music, except for one you have to add extreme advanced Math to the equation…
Also where most Metal and Prog bands bore you to death with only technical playing trying to impress every musician they know, RED BEE actually know how to write a brilliant song and not leave the genre.
Track after track has technical brilliance in musicianship (for those wishing to be blown away by shredding), massive grooves to sink your teeth into, great hooks and melodies for everyone to grab a hold of and sing and scream along to. From the opening track ROAD KILL through to the end with HELL & FIRE there is not a weak song anywhere.
Ictus; delivers.
Personal favourites of mine are:
ROAD KILL, a perfect choice to open the album with, it embodies everything that is RED BEE. It’s huge, solid and makes you want to jump around with or without the pit… and then leaves you as Road Kill.
ANGELO’S SCHOOL OF ARMS, track VI, the Instrumental. Now a lot of bands lose you on instrumentals, they try and be far too clever, RED BE stick to what they know best, and all they’ve done is write a killer song that simply doesn’t have a vocal track. And of course for those who have witnessed the BEE live, this is the “Lose Your Shit” Song…
THROUGH TO YOU, this song is the perfect Horror Movie sound scape, though no horror movie is worthy of the song. This song is lyrically deep and passionate, the song is haunting.
Back to the Math, RED BEE use some wicked time changes and signatures, the song 10-4 comes to mind here, named for the simple reason the song is in 10/4 timing.
You could be forgiven for thinking that all their songs are written using a Calculator, a Slide Rule, the complete works of Pythagoras and Leonhard Euler and a beat up old Abacus (for authenticity), but that wouldn’t count for the Soul in their Music.
Like the great Master painters of the renaissance, they used ground rules based in math to construct their works, but following a guide line is merely the sketch, then personality, imagination, blood and plenty of soul has to be added to the final mix to bring the work to life.
Lyrically, this album is extremely personal, unfortunately there’s no lyric sheets, but listening to the songs you feel, the personal stories, deep thoughts, pain and hope towards a new beginning and everything is honest and believable.
Ictus feels Live, these songs breathe, they are alive.
A simple Three Piece RED BEE is not, but there is beautifull simplicity in their complexity.
To put is simply and directly, RED BEE’s ICTUS is a Masterpiece. - Fess Fikkle
Label: Independent/Green Media
Produced by Clayton Segelov
Playing time: 38.04
Rating: 93%
The Australian rock/metal scene in 2012 feels like a propulsive nucleus of energy and ambition that is exploding from every corner of the continent, and now Sydney’s Blue Mountains emits the deafening buzz that is Red Bee.
This is possibly the most enormous sonic blast I have heard from a three-piece in quite some time, guitarist/vocalist Daniel Silk offering up big slabs of Slayer-like riffs whilst his unique breed of vocals (a touch of Frenzal Rhomb’s playfulness blended with Cog's anthemic, yet soulful renderings) wails tunefully over the powerful spine of rhythm that is Jim Silk's bass-slap and Ian Dunn's drum assault.
‘Road Kill’ makes no apologies for its aural assault as it opens proceedings; and make no mistake, what would initially seem like an album full of short, sharp, punchy tracks is actually, some technically progressive art merely masquerading as such. Check out the instrumental epic that is ‘Angelo’s School of Arms’ complete with a clean melodic passage at its centre. Personal favourite ‘Poetic Equation’ evokes Faith No More at their peak, whilst ‘Thin Red Line’, ‘Through to You’ and ‘10-4’ have an emotional punch that causes me to reach for the repeat button.
Ictus is an outstanding debut that feels like it has been crafted with the Midas Touch, the production is monstrous, the instrumentation is tight and the songs are wickedly infectious and catchy. All self-respecting metal/rock fans should add this album to their collection immediately – it’s a keeper!
1. Road Kill
2. Dark Daze
3. Deathbed Memory
4. Confess, Conform, Collapse
5. 10-4
6. Angelo’s School of Arms
7. Thin Red Line
8. Poetic Equation
9. Through To You
10. Hell & Fire - Rod Sedgwick/Loud Online Magazine
Discography
2012 - Ictus (full length album)
2009 - Red Bee E.P.
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Bio
"We are Red Bee, and we're here to tear your F@cking balls off!!!" (Daniel Silk)
Lying somewhere between the fuzzy borders of punk, metal and hard rock, is where the afore mentioned ball rippage will take place.
Quick to dispense with standard and formulaic rhythms and time signatures, Red Bee create every song differently. Their unique sound is driven by all three members who co-write songs and lyrics. Whether it is the turbo-charged, furious, bludgeoning riffs ranging from deathcore to punk in Thin Red Line by Daniel Silk; The gnarled and twisted almost punky riffs of Jim Silk's Deathbed Memory; The haunting musical journey of complex harmony and discord in Ian Dunn's Poetic Equation or the filthy, fast and tremulous Angelo's School of Arms (composed by all three members), every Red Bee song bears the compositional input of each member of the band.
The result is an incredibly tight live band that hits the stage with an explosive atmospheric energy that makes even the most devoted Katy Perry fan want to wake up the next day with sore neck muscles, long hair and the stink of beer and metal.
The songs on their upcoming studio album were recorded with Clayton Segelov at The Brain Studios in Surry Hills. It is an album that lyrically communicates the stories of the hopes and fears, trials and tribulations, victories and defeats of one fictitious man's fall into degeneracy and despair, eventually finding his own path through the black void.
Red Bee are uniquely Australian in sound and relentless in their pursuit of musical perfection, featuring no looping or studio trickery, nothing was allowed to be mastered that was not perfect for this album.
Since the release of their E.P in '09, Red Bee have grown to become one of the most innovative, melodic and technical of bands the Aussie underground metal scene has to offer. Although brothers Daniel and Jim have shared a deep musical connection from a young age (always sharing a love of the weirder side of life as envisaged in the works of Kubrick or the writings of Hunter S. Thompson or Bukowski) it wasn't until Ian Dunn joined the Red Bee line up, that the Silk brother's had found a third brother with a common purpose to forge new musical boundaries. Red Bee will always push themselves to be faster, heavier and more innovative. Ever seeking to master the fine balance of complex melody and huge harmonies over monstrously booming rhythms in each of their songs.
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