MARS RED SKY - "Apex III (Praise For The Burning Soul)"

Listenable Records - Release Date : New album "APEX III (Praise For The Burning Soul)" out February 29th 

Mars Red Sky on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marsredskyband 

Mars Red Sky on twitter: https://twitter.com/marsredsky1

Mars Red Sky: Discography

Mars Red Sky: Tour

Review by Crisco Diablo of the GryphonMetal.ch Team

MARS RED SKY - Apex III (Praise For The Burning Soul)

           It's a daunting task to try and sum up Mars Red Sky's latest offering, Apex III (Praise For The Burning Soul), as there's so many different elements and nuances going on at once to try and wrap your head  around. As a whole, the album is pretty amazing and will instantly get your attention upon first listen, but will most likely require multiple listens to fully appreciate everything they've put into this effort. Encompassing a gamut of sounds, Apex III is at its core, nothing short of a sonic psychedelic adventure.

             The album opens with a really trippy and spacey instrumental, appropriately called Alien Grounds, which is immediately reminiscent of Pink Floyd's earliest work and pretty much sets the tone for the album in general, particularly the first half. This leads into next 3 tracks - Apex III, The Whinery, and Mindreader, which all individually maintain the heady and ethereal vibe. Part way through Mindreader however, the song takes a notable twist, showcasing a heavier tone, inevitably setting the tone for the last half of the album. The latter half of Apex III does away with a lot of the instrumental breaks present on the first half, and seems more focused on structure, taking on a decisively more creepy, dark, and doomier tone evidenced in songs like Under The Hood and Shot In Providence. Prodigal Sun and Friendly Fire are a bit more akin to 70's rock, without being completely doomy or psychedelic in nature.

 MARS RED SKY         Though the album is full of twists and turns with all that's going on throughout, Julien Pras' entrancing and hypnotizing vocals are a constant that seems to keep it firmly balanced and grounded, never allowing it to completely steer in one direction or the other among the mixture of Matgaz's heavy handed drumming, Jimmy Kinast's thundering bass, and his own cascading riffs that ebb and flow like waves. The French trio have their own recipe that manages to seamlessly weave the best elements of 60's psychedelic pioneers, 70's rock, and more modern stoner doom, spiced up with some spacey effects to help build atmosphere, and a dash of blues and prog sprinkled along the way, to craft something uniquely their own. Overall, Apex III (Praise For The Burning Soul) is a damn fine psychedelic stoner doom album worthy of repeated listens, and should please an array of different rock/metal fans. Fans of bands such as Pink Floyd and other 60's & 70's psychedelic pioneers, along with Black Sabbath, Kyuss, Electric Wizard, and Bloody Hammers, should likely find this worth their time to check out.

                                                -   Grade 8/10  -

Crisco Diablo

APEX III (Praise For The Burning Soul)
_{Feb 29 2016 (Listenable Records)}

Discography:
'Curse/Sadaba' 7'ep (2010)
Debut album (2011)
Mars Red Sky / Year Of No Light 12 'ep (2012)
'Be my guide' 12' ep (2013)
'Hovering Satellites' 7'ep (2014)
'Stranded in Arcadia' (2014) (Listenable Records)
Providence ep - Jan 22 2016 (Listenable Records)
'APEX III (Praise For The Burning Soul)'
Feb 29 2016 (Listenable Records)

MARS RED SKY 2016 - live shows list 

10/02 SAN SEBASTIAN (SP) Dabadaba
11/02 GIJON (SP) Sala Acapulco
12/02 SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (SP) Sala Sonar
13/02 MADRID (SP) Sala Fun House
14/02 ZARAGOZA (SP) La Ley Seca
20/02 BOURGES (18) Le 22
26/02 NIORT (79) Le Camji 
01/03 LEIPZIG (DE) Werk 2
02/03 HAMBURG (DE) Hafenklang 
03/03 BRUSSELS (BE) VK
04/03 PARIS (FR) Le Divan Du Monde
05/03 ROTTERDAM (NL) Baroeg 
06/03 BERLIN (DE) Lido
07/03 COLOGNE (DE) Underground
08/03 STUTTGART (DE) Universum 
09/03 LINZ (AT) Stadtwerstatt
10/03 VIENNA (AT) Arena
11/03 LJUBLJANA (SI) Kino Šiška 
12/03 MUNICH (DE) Under The Black Moon Festival
13/03 INNSBRUCK (A) PMK
14/03 LAUSANNE (CH) Le Romandie
15/03 PRATTELN (CH) Z7
16/03 WIESBADEN (DE) Schlachthof
17/03 ARLON (BE) L’Entrepôt
18/03 EINDHOVEN (NL) Tuchthuis
19/03 HANNOVER (DE) Faust
29/03 RENNES (35) L' Ubu
30/03 ROUBAIX (59) La Cave Aux Poètes
31/03 ANGERS (49) Le Chabada
01/04 LORIENT (56) Le Manège
02/04 NANTES (44) Metalorgie Fest
05/04 STRASBOURG (67) La Laiterie 
06/04 LYON (69) Le Marché Gare 
07/04 DRAGUIGNAN (83) Le Bucéphale
08/04 BARCELONA (SP) Sala Plataforma
09/04 MONTPELLIER (34) Le Black Sheep
10/04 CLERMONT FD (63) La Coop. de Mai
12/04 TOURS (37) Le Temps Machine
16/04 LE MANS (72) Salle Jean Carmet
17/04 DUNKERQUE (59) Les 4 Ecluses 

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