Genre/Influences: Electro-pop.

Background/Info: Red Cell is a Swedish formation formed in 2003. They don’t exactly release new work on regular basis. This new album is the third one and the first one in 8 years.

Content: I remember Red Cell for their hard hitting electro sound, which on the previous work (cf. “Lead Or Follow”) was moving towards classical dark-electronics with solid and melodic leads on top. “Endings And Beginnings” sees the band moving towards electro-pop fields with guitar on top. The compositions become ‘softer’ and sound like an experienced electro-pop band.

It’s a clean and well-crafted production revealing melancholic passages, but still delicate arrangements. The vocals perfectly match with the sound.

+ + + : Even if I prefer the harder electronics from before I’ve to admit that the evolution in sound is absolutely impressive. Red Cell clearly reveals great writing skills in electro-pop music. Songs like “(We’ll Never Have) Another Moment”, “Lucid” and “Search” are accomplished songs mixing melancholic atmospheres with delicate sound treatments. I also like the complementarity lead- and backing vocals.

– – – : It all is a question of taste, but the earlier dark-electro side of Red Cell impressed me much more than their electro-pop transformation. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fully enjoyable work, but I’m especially missing a kind of climax on most of the songs.

Conclusion: “Endings And Beginnings” is an appropriated title for a band that strikes back after a hiatus of 8 years and with a ‘new’ sound. Let’s now hope that they will not get back into a new hibernation of years before striking back.

Best songs: “Lucid”, “(We’ll Never Have) Another Moment”, “Search”, “Past The Pale”.

Rate: (7).

Band: http://redcell.nu / www.facebook.com/redcellmusic

Label: www.progress–productions.com / www.facebook.com/progresspro

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Jimmy Skeppstedt, Stefan Aronsson and Per Linnerblad aka the electro industrial act Red Cell have waited 8 years to complete the follow-up to 2008’s “Lead Or Follow”, which itself was released 3 years after “Hybrid Society”. The Stockholm/Örebro based trio, which was one of the first bands ever to get signed to Progress Productions, returns with 10 tracks, of which 2 were already turned into singles: “Vial Of Dreams” and “Taking Back The Crown”.

The new album, “Endings and Beginnings”, can be ordered right here.

Red Cell was formed by Per and Jimmy during the winter of 2002/2003 after which they recorded their first demo, called “In Command”, in February 2003. The sound was more industrial at that time, but after that they hooked up with Stefan (who played guitar on their first demo) and Jens Eriksson on synthesizer, the sound quickly developed into a more electronic pop/metal type of music. The “I am the way” and “Related skin” demos followed and in January 2005 they signed to Progress Productions, located in Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2006 Jens who decided to leave the band.

Here’s “Vial Of Dreams” taken from “Endings and Beginnings” which can be ordered right here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

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