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Crimson River - Here's To The End... Again - Reviewed By hellfire-magazin! Thursday March 9 2023, 5:05 PM

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Crimson River - Here's To The End... Again - Reviewed By hellfire-magazin ! Check it out here at this link: https://www.hellfire-magazin.de/crimson-river-heres-to-the-end-again/

CRIMSON RIVER is a rock/heavy metal band from Eindhoven (not to be confused with a country gospel band of the same name from northern Alberta, Canada), formed in 2011. After first recording a number of demos themselves, they thought it was time for professional recording. These resulted in three tracks recorded between 2016 and 2017, which, after further processing, resulted in the “Crimson River EP” in 2019. A year later, work began on the first complete long player, which was significantly delayed due to the corona pandemic . At the end of December last year the time had come, with the title track "Here's To The End... Again" the first pre-single of the now available debut album was released.

Said song then also opens the song dance, in which guitarist Kris van Rens directly indicates his preference for guitar heroes like Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen, because you can hardly open an album much more classically. What follows is a snappy track that oscillates between Hard Rock (middle part) and Metal (before and after) and whose chorus may not have the most pronounced hooks, but which still literally grabs the listener by the horns. At first glance, “We Are The Knights” is a somewhat unwieldy number that alternates between a pounding beat and an increased rhythm, and its slogans in the chorus (“For the king, for the country, we will fight…) change like an order get their ears punched.

The six and a half minute long “Armada” has a few text passages, but otherwise seems like the result of a successful jam session, whereby the number would have worked perfectly without the vocals. As its title suggests, “Requiem” takes it a little more cautiously, then builds up to a dynamic rocker as the song progresses, only to start the game all over again. The extensive solo by Maestro van Rens is just as appealing as the song itself. If you can't get enough of the guitarist's dexterity, you should get your money's worth with the massive instrumental "Katyusha".

The stoic groover “Native” also does without singing at first, before Danny Keijsers lets his voice ring out. The chorus is pleasing as usual, but again it's the string work that stands out, especially in the second half of the song, which is instrumental again, where the whole thing almost takes on a southern flair. The concluding “The Wild” can be taken literally, because the Dutch really let it rip here, especially in the crazy solo part. In the end, that's a bit at the expense of the melody, but the guys definitely break a fat plank here.

All in all a very interesting album that our neighbors put down there. It's true that not every song idea catches fire right away, but the record grows with every run, and it picked me up on an instrumental level in particular. Friends of varied music somewhere between modern hard rock and metal with classically inspired leads won't go wrong if they try this thing out.

I give it 7.5 out of 10 Hellfire points. - hellfire-magazin

Release Date: February 10, 2023

FFO: Megadeth, Racer X, Metallica

Location: Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Crimson River is a rock / heavy metal band from Eindhoven in The Netherlands and was founded in 2011. Catchy riffs and flaming guitar solos characterize the sound. Strong influences from the New Wave of British Heavy dominate. In addition, the 10-string B.C. Rich Bich and some slide guitar can provide a 70’s classic rock vibe. Shredding leads à la Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen complete the picture.

For a long time they were rehearsing in obscurity, finetuning their sound, doing few shows and just having fun. But in 2019, the “Crimson River EP” was released, which was well received. In December of 2022 the single “Here’s To The End… Again” came out, and on February 10th of 2023 the rest of the album will be released into the world!

Check out this video!