The Origins of Ruin

Redemption pull off admirable wankery as first laid down by Dream Theater and make light and breezy work of a full 57 minutes. This is not an essential album but while it is going, it will blow your socks off - if you enjoy the stretchier variety of progging out, that is. I enjoy it from time to time myself and I have been enamored with this going on years now. The band is made up of guitarists Nick Van Dyk who also writes the lyrics and plays the delicious keys, Bernie freaking Versailles who played on all the best Agent Steel records and did some work on my fave Steel Prophet album, "Dark Hallucinations" - so, a man of steel all around. Ray Alder is on vocals and he sounds way more passionate than he did on the Fates Warning albums after Pleasant Shade of Grey.

What I like the most about "The Origins of Ruin" is how much actual good songwriting is here in spite of all the glitz and dazzle of their Dream Theater-meets-Symphony X claims to prog superiority. There's riff cycles that clutch and wind around you and never let go in all the first four blistering tracks that start us off. "The Suffocating Silence" enters with this passage;

Something's going on here,
the object is unspoken but
I can see the makings of
a sinister design...

Yes, indeedy...and the rippling machinations of Bernie's strong riff arm are at full flight emphasizing this premise. "The Death of Faith and Reason" is a neck-snapper and insanely catchy with the hooks while still being brazenly technical. But then on "Memory", Redemption achieve the unachievable - a song with relatable emotional carriage that doesn't die at the hill of over-emoting (like some of their other material). It is deeply poignant and blissfully techy with a fair mix of both. The lyrical journey it takes you on is worthwhile too and Ray Alder is just the perfect voice for this kind of stuff. It rides out with the lines;

And I know somehow I'll be alright,
and I hope that you're the same
but I'm scared my dying breath
may be your name.

Redemption write out rather prosaic tales of everyday emotional woes but do it behind sophisticated melodicism and a bright-sheeny apparatus of riffs and keys that suggest it will all be alright in the end. This juxtaposition is interesting and entertaining, something few overly technical progressive metal bands just aren't. There's drier moments on the album like "Man of Glass" which breezes by without much standing out but bassist Sean Andrews. Even then, these unremarkable passages only seem to serve as bridges to fatter, wealthier material like the impassioned closer "Fall On You" and "Blind My Eyes" that tugs a bit at the soaring power metal chorus template. Drummer Chris Quirarte is fucking menacing throughout. He's in that Marco Minnemann train of drummers; immense chops but delivered in controlled respect of the songwriting.

"The Origins of Ruin" is a rare album - one that wears its influences so strongly with a classy team of musicians who aren't afraid to go off but do so with a keen sense of direction. It's that simple in construct and from that, all the complexities it so richly provides begin to fall into place and form an astonishing picture. It's emotionally charged as well and that centers the songs in the real and relatable things usually outside the purview of those who crawl up their own asses with guitar in hand. A brilliant album and probably this band's best work. The follow-up is spotty but still strong and "The Art of Loss" is phenomenal but overlong so this is the one that I'd strongly recommend.

Well, I guess that's not saying much, considering most anything would have been a step up from the huge musical mess that was The Fullness of Time, but Redemption did take a notable step back towards what made their debut good and away from what made their sophomore album awful with this release. The songwriting is better and Ray Alder no longer sounds like a rejected pop vocalist - while it isn't back to the level of their debut album, The Origins of Ruin has some of the makings of an enjoyable progressive metal album, while discarding many of the glaring problems that smothered their previous release.

The music here is stylistically not that different from The Fullness of Time, but it's a hell of a lot better written and much more aggressive. Modern prog metal riffs reminiscent mainly of Dream Theater swarm over atmospheric keyboards, occasionally wandering towards thrash metal or power metal, interspersed with instrumental sections showcasing the band's technical prowess. Odd time-signatures abound, along with atypical song structures and all the other trappings of your average modern prog metal band.

Ray Alder, who is one of the main reasons The Fullness of Time fell so utterly flat, sounds notably improved here - he's still nowhere near as good as Rick Mythiasin, but his vocals are at least not immediately offputting as they were before. He still struggles with some sappy vocal lines but overall gives a much more mature and interesting performance, even showing some reasonable versatility on some of the more aggressive tracks - The Death of Faith and Reason sees some almost venomous lines during the verses, something I'd never expect out of him.

Additional improvements over the preceding album include stronger riff work, more impressive and concise instrumental sections, and the lack of anything overwhelmingly saccharine - both the epics here are pulled off much more tastefully than Sapphire and The Fullness of Time.

This album isn't without a fair share of flaws, however. While vastly improved over its predecessor, it still struggles with overtly sappy vocal lines and melodies, especially in some of the choruses and in multiple parts of the album's first epic, Memory. The album also suffers from some problems with variety - much of the second half seems to meld together, with little if anything to distinguish the compositions from each other.

Ultimately, though, Redemption just seems to lack a bit of inspiration - they have all the elements required to make a very good prog metal album, but they're not really combined in a way which is truly effective. It's a band I feel like I want to like, given its lineup, and should like, given its style, but that ultimately doesn't quite live up to the expectation. Thus, while there's not too much that's horribly *wrong* with The Origins of Ruin, there just isn't enough that's really *right* about it, either - it sits there, showcasing a number of the standard genre tropes, all executed well but not brought together in a particularly inspired manner. When the band gets it right, as it does in parts of the ending epic, Fall on You, and the first track, The Suffocating Silence, the result is quite good, but as it is there's nothing to really make The Origins of Ruin stick with the listener.

So, if you're looking for solid, if not particularly memorable prog metal album you could probably do a lot worse than this - it's a definitively "alright" album, and by virtue of that alone, at least, it leaves its predecessor far behind in the dust.

Those who've followed the progress of prog metal stalwarts Fates Warning through the years may have been dismayed at how they moved from a busy sound that was stuffed to bursting point with ideas to one where Jim Matheos' primary aim seems to be constructing a song with as few notes as possible. Though their minimalist sound has quite a few takers, and a certain charm about it, there are times where you kind of wish for the unrestrained enthusiasm of yore.


Enter Redemption. This band's been intertwined with FW since it's inception, with Mark Zonder contributing in their debut, Fates' touring guitarist Bernie Versailles a prominent member and Ray Alder providing vocals for the last two releases. And without the obligation of maturity that a long back catalog warrants, this setup has a more gung-ho “Hell yeah! Let's kick some ass!” approach to things.


It warms the heart to once again hear Alder's distinctive voice working with urgent rhythm sections, aggressive riffage, blistering solos and the few indulgences that vintage prog metal wears on its sleeve. The band's general formula seems to be stir things up, building to a big singalong chorus, and then ease off with some instrumental interplay. So while it's not really treading new ground, they just do it so competently and earnestly (with some pretty good lyrical ability, too) that you can't really fault them. And did I mention great choruses?


Personally, this release falls a little short of their last effort, The Fullness of Time, for some reason. That one had a few more standout moments, despite some blatant Symphony X ripoff tunes. Nonetheless, Redemption is still consistently filling an important niche that needed to be taken care of, for band members and listeners alike.

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Those who have read other reviews I have written might know that I’m not too fond of the genre people call Prog Metal. Most of those bands drown in their own acts of self-exposure. Too much freaking around and not enough real music. There have been a few exceptions to that rule over the last two and a half decades. Redemption is one of them. I might be a little more flexible towards that band, because my favorite lead guitarist who is still alive is playing in that band (Agent Steel’s Bernie Versailles), but the truth is that Redemption-mastermind, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Van Dyk, knows how to construct a real song instead of focusing purely on exploiting the musical abilitiers of his band members to the maximum. This was displayed on ‘Redemption’ (2003) and ‘The Fullness Of Time’ (2005), but ‘The Origins Of Ruin’ is – so far – the definitive proof of that.

‘The Origins Of Ruin’ especially surpasses its predecessor in song structures and originality. Where there were some moments of total Symphony-X worship on ‘The Fullness Of Time’ (just check out that part in the intro to ‘Threads’, which is shamelessly stolen from ‘The Accolade’), Redemption has really found a sound of its own on this new album. A sound that really sets them apart from many other Prog bands. And the key word here is “emotion”.

Nick Van Dyk has crafted songs that smoothly shift from one mood to another, but there’s not one moment where it stops making sense. The climaxes of the song are in the actual choruses. A rare thing on Prog albums anyway, but the choruses on these albums are really something special. I’m actually surprised by Ray Alder’s vocal delivery on this album. I have never been a fan of Ray Alder, he sounds a bit one-dimensional, but he sounds better than he has ever done here. However I’d still like to hear how Rick Mythiasin – who sang on most of the band’s self-titled debut – would have done this album. Alder somehow always seeks out a band where he has a better predecessor; John Arch in Fates Warning and Mythiasin (who, ironically, sounds a lot like John Arch) in Redemption.

‘The Suffocating Silence’ opens the album in great fashion. The song basically sums up all the elements that make a good Redemption-song. There’s a heavy and pulsating main riff, followed by an accompanying verse and a very melodic chorus with double vocal lines, rounded off by some great soloing by both Van Dyk and Versailles. Most of the album is a variation on this basic structure, but somehow, it never grows boring. That is because the lines set by that structure get a different coloring with every song.

My personal favorite on this album is ‘The Death Of Faith And Reason’. This song features (naturally) the thrashiest riffing on this album, which makes it heavy enough to bang your head to, though there’s still enough musical masturbation for the Prog fan to enjoy. For fans of “regular” Metal, this would probably be a recommended track to first check out. Other highlights include ‘Memory’, which has one of the most beautiful choruses as well as one of the most beautiful lyrical lines I have ever heard (“I’m scared my dying breath will be your name”) and closing epic ‘Fall On You’ is beautifully constructed. Fans of Bernie Versailles’ work with Agent Steel may get a kick out of the intro to ‘Used To Be’.

As usual with a Prog album, the production is top notch. Nick Van Dyk seems to do everything to create the perfect product with his brain child and I commend him for that. He seems to have a sense of perfectionism that fits this album perfectly (no pun intended). A special mention goes out to the stellar drumming of Chris Quirarte. He knows –as opposed to, for example, Mike Portnoy – when to play and when not to play. New bassist Sean Andrews is a very capable musician as well. He does some nice soloing throughout the album, but he never exaggerates in that matter.

Redemption is a band that people who aren’t into Prog should try to check out someday. It worked for me, although I must admit that Bernie Versailles’ presence in the band has always been the main reason for checking them out. However, I never had any regrets in that matter either. Redemption is a good Prog band and ‘The Origins Of Ruin’ is so far the highlight of the band’s carreer.