Red Bee

Looking at the back Cover of RED BEE’s debut album Ictus, you see the songs are numbered in Roman Numerals, and this is your first warning of what’s about to happen once you open the case and load that Disc into your player. From the very first note you feel what being attacked by the entire Roman Army would’ve been like… Your Blood rushes through your veins, your Senses are heightened and then you are Destroyed by what stands before you… RED BEE.

RED BEE fall into that Prog Metal section of music, except for one you have to add extreme advanced Math to the equation…
Also where most Metal and Prog bands bore you to death with only technical playing trying to impress every musician they know, RED BEE actually know how to write a brilliant song and not leave the genre.

Track after track has technical brilliance in musicianship (for those wishing to be blown away by shredding), massive grooves to sink your teeth into, great hooks and melodies for everyone to grab a hold of and sing and scream along to. From the opening track ROAD KILL through to the end with HELL & FIRE there is not a weak song anywhere.
Ictus; delivers.

Personal favourites of mine are:
ROAD KILL, a perfect choice to open the album with, it embodies everything that is RED BEE. It’s huge, solid and makes you want to jump around with or without the pit… and then leaves you as Road Kill.
ANGELO’S SCHOOL OF ARMS, track VI, the Instrumental. Now a lot of bands lose you on instrumentals, they try and be far too clever, RED BE stick to what they know best, and all they’ve done is write a killer song that simply doesn’t have a vocal track. And of course for those who have witnessed the BEE live, this is the “Lose Your Shit” Song…
THROUGH TO YOU, this song is the perfect Horror Movie sound scape, though no horror movie is worthy of the song. This song is lyrically deep and passionate, the song is haunting.

Back to the Math, RED BEE use some wicked time changes and signatures, the song 10-4 comes to mind here, named for the simple reason the song is in 10/4 timing.
You could be forgiven for thinking that all their songs are written using a Calculator, a Slide Rule, the complete works of Pythagoras and Leonhard Euler and a beat up old Abacus (for authenticity), but that wouldn’t count for the Soul in their Music.
Like the great Master painters of the renaissance, they used ground rules based in math to construct their works, but following a guide line is merely the sketch, then personality, imagination, blood and plenty of soul has to be added to the final mix to bring the work to life.
Lyrically, this album is extremely personal, unfortunately there’s no lyric sheets, but listening to the songs you feel, the personal stories, deep thoughts, pain and hope towards a new beginning and everything is honest and believable.

Ictus feels Live, these songs breathe, they are alive.
A simple Three Piece RED BEE is not, but there is beautifull simplicity in their complexity.

To put is simply and directly, RED BEE’s ICTUS is a Masterpiece. - Fess Fikkle

Label: Independent/Green Media
Produced by Clayton Segelov
Playing time: 38.04
Rating: 93%

The Australian rock/metal scene in 2012 feels like a propulsive nucleus of energy and ambition that is exploding from every corner of the continent, and now Sydney’s Blue Mountains emits the deafening buzz that is Red Bee.

This is possibly the most enormous sonic blast I have heard from a three-piece in quite some time, guitarist/vocalist Daniel Silk offering up big slabs of Slayer-like riffs whilst his unique breed of vocals (a touch of Frenzal Rhomb’s playfulness blended with Cog's anthemic, yet soulful renderings) wails tunefully over the powerful spine of rhythm that is Jim Silk's bass-slap and Ian Dunn's drum assault.

‘Road Kill’ makes no apologies for its aural assault as it opens proceedings; and make no mistake, what would initially seem like an album full of short, sharp, punchy tracks is actually, some technically progressive art merely masquerading as such. Check out the instrumental epic that is ‘Angelo’s School of Arms’ complete with a clean melodic passage at its centre. Personal favourite ‘Poetic Equation’ evokes Faith No More at their peak, whilst ‘Thin Red Line’, ‘Through to You’ and ‘10-4’ have an emotional punch that causes me to reach for the repeat button.

Ictus is an outstanding debut that feels like it has been crafted with the Midas Touch, the production is monstrous, the instrumentation is tight and the songs are wickedly infectious and catchy. All self-respecting metal/rock fans should add this album to their collection immediately – it’s a keeper!

1. Road Kill
2. Dark Daze
3. Deathbed Memory
4. Confess, Conform, Collapse
5. 10-4
6. Angelo’s School of Arms
7. Thin Red Line
8. Poetic Equation
9. Through To You
10. Hell & Fire - Rod Sedgwick/Loud Online Magazine