Metal Underground.com

One of my favorite visual art forms is the collage. There's something intriguing to me about the idea of many disparate elements being combined to create something entirely new and greater than the sum of its parts. With "Red Square: We Come In Waves," Italy's At The Soundawn has created seven fascinating musical collages that combine elements of many different musical forms.

The musical journey on the opener, "Slight Variations," is worth the price of admission on its own. The song opens with a Tool-ish guitar line before singer Mirco Migliori comes in with a near death metal scream, but seconds later, listeners are emerged into a slow, quiet section with the vocals delivered quietly enough to suggest you're hearing them at a distance. Suddenly, the guitars start sounding like something out of a Coldplay song, and a mournful trumpet starts playing. The next track, "Submerged," contrasts heavy and light, with sudden leaps between distorted and clean guitar parts.

"One Day Before" initially sounds like radio-friendly rock, right before the screaming starts. At one point, Migliori's vocals are delivered through an effect simulating radio static, and the song slows to a sleepy pace, providing the perfect ending.

One of my favorite tracks on the album is "Sundown In Rome," which reminds me of classic Pink Floyd, in that it begins with a calm tranquility that's maintained until the end, when, in the last 15 seconds, it turns into a cacophony.

If you're looking for a shred-fest, this is definitely not the album for you. Guitarists Andrea Violante and Matteo Bassoli are far more interested in melody than riffs and solos. Bassist Alessio Bellotto and drummer Enrico Calvano also deserve a lot of credit for keeping the songs coherent, given all the time and style changes.

At just over 28 minutes, the album's a bit on the short side, but there's so much going on that it feels longer than that — and this is one of the rare times that that's a good thing. I will point out, though, that the last couple of songs start to feel just a tad formulaic, either going from heavy to light and back to heavy, or light to heavy and back to light.

With "Red Square: We Come In Waves," At The Soundawn offers a complete musical experience that goes beyond riffs, solos and grooves. That's a rare thing in metal these days, and one to be celebrated.