Album Review :
Red Morning Voyage - Get to the Trenches EP

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Band: Red Morning Voyage
Title: Get To The Trenches EP
Label: Unsigned
Release Date: 2009
Review By: Steve
Track Listing:
1. And The Sea Held Us Hostage
2. Throwing A Voice
3. Murder, She Spoke

Red Morning Voyage is a five-piece progressive/post-hardcore band out Indiana. Currently Red Morning Voyage is working on some new demos with Devin Shelton of Emery who is even doing guest vocals on some of the tracks as well.  Instrumentally, Red Morning Voyage likes to mix up the tempos of each track by mixing fast and heavy with the slow and melodic parts. They pull this off masterfully in “Throwing A Voice” by starting out extremely fast and heavy and then almost bringing the song to an abrupt halt with some soft clean vocals that fade into some soft ambient noise for the last 30 seconds of the track. The instrument play overall is very good. The music is laden with some heavy metal influenced guitar riffs and some amazing drums. With only three tracks on the EP, there was not one song that stood out more than the others did because they were all equally good in my opinion.

Vocally, Ryan & Mason have good voices and do a great job of alternating between some good clean vocals and some raw screams. Ryan has a very smooth voice, and I like his clean vocals equally as well as Mason’s screams. Ryan’s vocals are good enough that they could make Red Morning Voyage a lot more popular down the road. As with the music, the vocals do a great job of mixing up the hard raw vocals with the soft catchy clean vocals. At times, the clean vocals can get a little whiny in “And The Sea Held Us Hostage” but overall they are very catchy and will make you want to start singing along.

I was very impressed with the metaphorical lyrics that Red Morning Voyage used in these three songs. “And The Sea Held Us Hostage” speaks of having to kill our own will and surrender to God as Jonah did. “Spiraling downward. You sent this storm to ruin me. The pressure, this pressure is paralyzing. The water fills my lungs, it’s forcing its way in. Three days, three nights in the belly of my rebellion. Cast me out. Cast me to Nineveh.” “Throwing A Voice” talks about our world looking for everything but God, and “Murder, She Spoke” speaks about how deadly our words can be.

Overall: This excellent EP is very heavy and melodic. Mason has a great voice to go along with some good instrument play. The mixing of tempos does an excellent job of keeping the listener interested in the song instead of getting bored. Great instrument play and vocals, what more can you ask for. I am definitely excited to see what Red Morning Voyage has in store for the future.