Artist: Redkey 
   Title: Rage Of Fire
   Label: Dockyard 1

Following the split of Heaven's Gate in the late 90’s vocalist Thomas Rettke and guitarist Sascha Paeth went their separate ways, with Paeth going into producing and Rettke guesting in several albums including those of Edguy, Kamelot and Mob Rules and there isn’t a Rhapsody album that Thomas doesn’t appear.

Now some 15 years on Rettke and Paeth are back together with a new venture Redkey.  They are joined by old friend and former Steeltower band-mate guitarist Andre Borawski, completing the line-up are Daniel Eichholz on drums and Klemens Klarhorst on bass.

The bands debut release ‘Rage Of Fire’ is a different animal that the Heaven's Gate material.  The band are taking a much more modern metal approach to this album, although it still has that classic duelling guitar thing going on, but overall they are bringing in more Power Metal elements to their new found sound.

After the into 'Man 'n' Machine',  'Rage of Fire' is unleashed and is a prime example on the 80’s metal sound blended beautifully with an intense modern metal vibe and together with Rettke’s masterful vocals, which are a mix between power of Rob Halford and the majesty of Ronnie James Dio, the band are on to winner.

With the next track ‘Be My Guide’ this dark seven-minute epic show the band can mix power with melodic undertones to great effect. The band raise the bar once more with the fantastic ‘Rebellion’, with its almost Priest like duelling guitar riffs and the thunderous rhythm section of Eichholz and Klarhorst pounding out the back beat against Rettke's earth shattering vocals.

Another duel guitar killer track is ‘Peace And War’ with the vocals of Rettke once again leading the way.  After the power driven vocals on ‘Peace And War’ could Rettke top that?  The answer is an overwhelming yes, with ‘Easy Way Out’ he gives us one of his best vocal performances.  This is backed by the roller coaster riffs of Borawski and Paeth as the tone of the track dips and rises from the slow rhythmic pace to an all out guitar explosion.

This album goes from strength to strength with ‘Obsession’, which finds the band almost veer towards melodic hard rock, but they still manage to carry it off in a Power Metal style.  Whereas ‘Metal Head’ as metal all the way with some outstanding guitars on this one.  The same can be said about the next track ‘Respectable’.

But the old adage of saving the best till last comes to mind with the atmospheric epic ‘The Fortune’.  Not only is this destined to become a classic but it features Edguy front man Tobias Sammet duet-ting with Rettke. This produces a perfect end to what is a simply stunning debut from the band.

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