The feeling of homecoming is surrounding this release from minute number one and even if my own expectations had been really high, the BARREN EARTH debut is nothing else than a breath-taking release. The great expectations are easily explained by the bunch of fantastic musicians which are earning their money in bands like SWALLOW THE SUN and MOONSORROW. Just imagine the true soul of the first handful of AMORPHIS releases – take out their “Tales From The Thousand Lakes” masterpiece and listen to songs like ‘The Castaway’ – supported by fantastic musicianship and a musical concept without boundaries. There are not so many releases these days which are in the position to cover more than only a single Metal movement – the frontiers within our own scene are just too strict and a lot of people need to ban great ideas due to unsuitability for their own image – but BARREN EARTH are without a doubt different. In summary the musical concept with Finnish Metal vs. Prog Metal no harm would be done but “Curse Of The Red River” is offering more. The music is highly aggressive – so don’t expect another Beauty & Beast fuck up – but on the other hand songs like ‘Flicker’ are highly melodic and offer such an emotional level that you will enjoy every minute of them. Every song is really different even if the vocals by Mikko Kotamäki are omnipresent and the prog influences surface in form of great solos and / or great keyboard melodies. “Curse Of The Red River” is offering fantastic music for fans of traditional Metal but also for fans of more aggressive stuff – what counts as usual is quality and there is hell of it on this release. www.myspace.com/officialbarrenearth, www.peaceville.com