Mixed results often stem from experimenting with the amalgamation of various genres. Often times, forcing uncommon musical ideas into a messy juxtaposition of sorts ends in clutter, with not enough focus placed on each individual element. The bands that succeed in this area tend to understand how to evenly spread each musical idea out, how to give each its own turn in the limelight. RED DESCENDING experiments with a decently high number of sounds and tones throughout "Where Dreams Come To Die" without turning the album into a veritable clown car of unconcentrated musical chaos.

In fact, "Where Dreams Come To Die" is so well orchestrated, and so tightly concentrated that every unique instrument is given equal opportunity to make its presence felt. A large portion of the album is backed with pseudo-symphonic keyboards, but what the symphonic presence is used for varies between songs. It acts as a thin layer of atmosphere subtly residing in the background in order to allow the guitar and vocals to have a more dominate effect in songs like "Century" and "The Grand Memory". The appropriately titled "Valhalla" sees the keyboards acting as battle leader in the grand-scaled musical explosion inherent within the song. "Departure" exchanges the symphonic influence for a surprisingly effective electronica backdrop. The electronic sounds don’t grate or sound out of place; in fact, they do more for the atmosphere than one might imagine. The shrill, piercing electronic shrieks mesh with the clean-and-crisp tone of the guitar riffs in a wholly inimitable fashion, and the bizarre contrast renders the song not only infectious as all get out, but haunting in a most memorable manner as well.

Strip the album of the keyboard’s presence and what’s left is a melodic Death Metal album that straddles the line between modern and classic rather well. There are moments of typical AT THE GATES worship and a few Metalcore-styled breakdowns, but these are few and far between. The guitar riffs alternate between a devastatingly catchy groove-styled motif and a more mellifluous lead. The drums aren’t exactly atypical of this genre; there are fills aplenty as well as the standard double bass work. The bass guitar is subtle, but it does play its hand in the creation of the various atmospheres that this album indulges in. Like the keyboards, it often resides in the background, and it provides a viscous, hollowing ambience on more than one occasion. The vocals are fairly straightforward. It might be because of the keyboards, but I felt like I was listening to Shagrath orchestrate his DIMMU BORGIR buddies through most of the album. Shagrath’s lizard-esque vocal approach is what dominates here; RED DESCENDING even makes use of the muffled, computerized static effect that Shagrath does so frequently.

This isn’t a perfect album, and flaws do exist. However, even the album’s weakest tracks only suffer from a disproportionate dispersal of ingenuity, and no song is bad in and of itself. There is quite a bit going on throughout the album, but RED DESCENDING make it work.

(Online September 15, 2008)