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| The Red
Masque - Feathers for Flesh Reviews
And what can be said about vocalist Lynnette Shelley? Is she possessed? She sounds like Curved Air's Sonja Kristina - or is it Kate Bush? Annie Haslam? Nina Hagen? Lydia Lunch? Diamanda Galas? A lot otherworldly beauty and insanity is covered here! read full review In the Nu-progressive rock underground, few bands are as respected and feared as Philadelphia's The Red Masque... read full review ...having drawn me into it so much, could have easily lasted for 2 hours at least, but then suddenly seemed to have finished after almost 55 minutes. read full review "Feathers for Flesh" is a masterpiece in form, content, and delivering together and is of no less significance for today's progressive scene than the best works of King Crimson were at the time of the genre's heyday... read full review Experimental to the point that one imagines a theatrical play on set as instrumental sounds intertwine and the mystical voices travel through the speakers... read full review It’s music that needs to approached with a very open mind. It’s not for the faint of heart... read full review This opus brims with a power of expression that forces admiration. I can easily understand how an informed public could be conquered by the world of The Red Masque. read full review What I like best about this album is that there are subtle contributions from each member and this makes it a real band effort... read full review The four piece fronted by vocalist Lynnette Shelley plays a dizzying array of instrumentation, and delivers an intense workout that defies categorization. At any minute they may be driving out a brutal 70's Crimson like rock, a gentle nearly-pastoral pop, offering quirky and angular outbursts of avant-garde strangeness, or hovering in dark, mysterious gothic spaces often all within the confines of the same track... read full review And if you're concerned that there are too many angelic wallflower chick singers in prog, boy are you in for a treat. Lynnette Shelley is no angel; she's more of a cross between Cyoakha Grace (Azigza) and Carla Kihlstedt (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), although deeper than both... read full review ...the quartet is comfortable doing mysterious drones as well as creating dark medieval themes that map out depressing musical statements. The trio's delivery is not as dire as many a Devil Doll product, but that target audience will surely be one to embrace this set of five menacing tracks... read full review |
What’s incredible about this album is that the group
manages to mix all these initially diverging moods and perspectives. They go from VDGG-ish
dissonance to seducing harmonies one minute, the next from sound collages to strict
polyrhythmic ensemble playing. The tracks are outstretched and compact, with wide spans in
stress and moods, always with great attention to detail and finesse - and extremely well
produced.