REDSHARK – Digital Race

Shark Attack!

There are some days when you just get bored. Some days you cannot find inspiration, or you just don’t know what to listen to. You browse through your CD collection, your digital library and intently peer at all of these beautiful artworks, and you find yourself yearning for the old days. Not the days of great discoveries at your disc store (sadly closed down since) but the days of good old fun… when you could find a wrestler with a baby seal face swinging an axe at a plane. Kids don’t do that these days… They’re no fun… Wait a second?! What on Earth is that?
Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you: this is a muscular red and shark headed (frankly in what order should all these adjectives be?) humanoid, wearing camo pants and who is busy killing a bunch of corporate robots with a flamethrower.

Redhshark is a young band from Spain, with obviously a great sense of humour and a mind set to pay tribute to the Speed/Heavy Metal from the 8O’s and all the imagery that went with it. From the shrill lyrics to the shredding riffs, everything screams ‘8Os and old-school. After a couple of EPs and singles since 2013, Digital Race is their first album.

Baby Shark with steroids

The opening song “Drill State” with its fast tempo will make you think of Judas Priest, and the copy is not pale, but rather vivid and promising. “Never Too Late” brings even more power to the mix with powerful choruses. The riffs and soli are rough, perhaps in need of a little polishing, but for a first album, this is quality stuff. Drums are also well produced and mixed. Only the singing, while decent in its own style, is perhaps a bit repetitive, with a restricted range, that does not allow too much fantasy. “Mars Recall” is another very good song, classic but efficient. The whole album would be a nice soundtrack for a video game.
With the passion of youth, they do not slow down and deliver killer track after killer track. Still, they allow a little pause with the almost ballad “Pallid Hand” that allows the vocals to be more diversified and the result is a success (the classical guitar solo is well executed.) With the final track, “I’m Falling”, they conclude with style.

Final words

With Digital Race, Redshark delivers a fine first album with many interesting compositions, clear inspirations from the classics and a clever way to reuse these patterns. Something promising for the future! One question remains: where can one get a t-shirt with this red shark on it?

Lineup

Philip Graves – Guitars
Eric Killer – Drums
Javier Bono – Guitars, Synthesizer
Chris Carrest – Bass
Pau Correas – Vocals

Digital Race – Tracklist

01 – The Drill State
02- Never Too Late
03- Digital Race
04- Arrival
05- Mars Recall
06- Kill Your Idol
07- The Death Rides
08- Burning Angels
09- Pallid Hands
10 – I’m Falling