RED ROSE – Live The Life You’ve Imagined (2011)

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Music, and specially Rock music, has no boundaries.
Red Rose is young band from Israel, whose first album entitled “Live The World You’ve Imagined” is now on stores.
Bakerteam Records is a new subsidiary launched by Italian label Scarlet Records, which aim is (according to them) ‘discovering and offering support to the best talents of the hard rock & metal international scene’.
And indeed the first band booked has talent.

The band’s debut was recorded at Jailhouse Studios in Denmark by renowned local metal/hard rock producer Tommy Hansen (Pretty Maids’ Future World, Helloween, Jorn Lande), who has provided, as usual, a brilliant sound.
Red Rose plays a good mixture of a melodic rock, hard and melodic metal in the European vein.
“Live The World You’ve Imagined” brings to front a fair balance between guitars and keyboards, emphasizing the melodic aspects of both instruments effectively making the experience more intriguing while also bringing greater definition to the songwriting.
Beyond the expected melodic guitar lines and keyboards harmonies you also get a good deal of unconventional drumming, which alters itself along the song structure, with occasional outbursts of double bass drumming and thick cymbals. Singer Leve Laitner has a cool timbre comparable to a younger Scorpions’ Klaus Meine.

The album opens with “Turn Back The Time”, one of the more melodic rock oriented tracks here, with a big arena sound that made the ’80s famous. The song has big keyboards and dynamic melodic guitars, turning into a progressive and aggressive style in the middle, and then the pace changes again. Really interesting.
“Name On The Stone” continues with that cool sound, but more edgier. An heroic stadium hard rocker with an edge resembling the heavier side of UK’s Ten. There is a great keyboard solo, constant and good drums and a crisp guitar job.
“The Last Drop” has a softer sound and a slower rhythm with many pompous parts, and Leve’s plenty of space to carry out his notes in a classy style. Remarkable is the addition of a delicate and beautiful flute sound, which puts a different mood and texture to the song. The instrumental part after three minutes is great, filled with orchestrated keyboards and excellent melodic guitars. One of the album’s highlights for sure.

“Gone With The Sunrise” contrasts with the previous track, this one has a more powerful and melodic metal sound with tasty chops, and the keyboards are always in the right moment creating the nuances and textures.
Title track “Live The Life You’ve Imagined” is driven by strong guitar riffs leading the way into an epic song. Steady drums radiate out and guitar gets a major workout here, screaming its heart out in a hard rock fashion. The name of the band may be after a delicate flower, but these guys have the thorns to give it a hard rock edge.
“Dreamer” starts with soft and angelical keyboards that lead to a ballad-like track. Later the rockier elements appear but the soft melodic feeling prevail during the whole song.
The shortest pair of tracks comes to the very end of the album. First “Tough To Love” whose first seconds are a great explosion of symphonic metal, but later mainly due to the vocals the music have an orientation to classic hard rock.
Last song “When The Sun Goes Down” is nice acoustic melancholic piece with light guitars and percussion. The focus is most decidedly on the vocals (Laiter sounds definitely as Klaus Meine here), but as the other instruments surround his harmonies with delicate spider strands of music, you get a whole new impression of what this band is capable of.

Red Rose has surpassed my expectations.
“Live The Life You’ve Imagined” features well-crafted Melodic Hard Rock songs with a strong dose of heavier elements but, also, some proggy pinches as well.
The songwriting is solid, in the classic style, with interesting arrangements defining the band’s own sound, mainly sustained by the skilled axeman Elnur Aliev. His playing is truly refreshing with a jumpin’ sound, particularly on the rhythm guitars, where the hand of expertise Tommy Hansen is clear. By the way, he has given to the recording his typically crispy touch.
“Live The Life You’ve Imagined” is a strong debut album and worth every second of listening time and more. You won’t be disappointed.
Good Stuff.

You’ve seen it first here, at 0dayrock

01. Turn Back The Time
02. Name On The Stone
03. The Last Drop
04. Gone With The Sunrise
05. Live The Life You’ve Imagined
06. Dreamer
07. Tough To Love
08. When The Sun Goes Down

Leve Laiter – Vocals
Elnur Aliev – Guitars
Deion Kristen – Keyboards
Eli Reeve – Bass

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