Overview

www.DPRP.net.net - webzine - Holland - 8 / 10
www.BLABBERMOUTH.net - webzine - USA - 8 / 10
www.YTSEJAM.com - webzine - USA - 4 / 5
www.PROGARCHIVES.com - webzine - USA - 4 / 5
Eclipsed - magazine - Germany - 7 / 10
Norway Rock Magazine - magazine - Norway - 4 / 6


Read Reviews

Andy Read - www.DPRP.net - webzine - Holland - 8 out of 10 points

I won't try to hide the fact that I rate Redemption as one of the best progressive metal acts to emerge in the past decade. Their last two albums (The Fullness Of Time and The Origins Of Ruin) have been bona fide classics. My respect for the band was cemented when I had the chance to meet up with its founder Nick van Dyk for a DPRP interview and found him to be a very nice chap too!

However that's not to say everything the band has and will do will get my unbridled praise. The Live Show at Amsterdam's Headway Festival which followed the interview was shoddy and unprofessional. Therefore, whilst news of a live DVD immediately raised my interest, when I placed it in the player and pressed play, I did so with some trepidation. The Headway gig was only the band's third ever show, since when they've trekked around the US along with Dream Theater and Into Eternity and appeared at the prestigious ProgPower USA festival in 2007 - where this show was filmed. So, does this DVD put that Headway show to rest. It certainly does - but still with a few reservations.

At just over an hour this show was only a generous support slot. However this plays to their advantage by only including the cream of the crop. Also the songs flow with little time for a breath in between so you get good value per minute. The set list is pretty spot-on in terms of song selection. Few bands can offer a stronger riff-fuelled opening than the duo of Threads and Bleed Me Dry. Sapphire will always give me goose-bumps and The Death Of Faith And Reason sums everything up perfectly. The set offers a good taste of the band's career to date; with one track from their debut, three from the second album and five from their last.

As for the show itself, the venue looks great with a large stage and a full crowd. The lighting is clear. This isn't a big budget production but the use of a crane and multi angles allows plenty of viewpoints. I like the way there's repeat shots of the crowd and individual fans. This really enhances the live feel. The sound is heavy, slightly raw and very live.

The visuals really highlight the fantastic twin guitar work between Nick and Bernie Versailles and the way in which it provides the foundation for the band's power. What is displayed even more is the equal importance of the keyboards in every song - Greg Hosharian plays an absolute blinder, especially on Memory. I hope he is utilized equally in the song writing for the forthcoming studio album.

Where could band could improve? It's all too static. Apart from Ray Alder, no-one really strays too far from their chosen spots. I'm all for letting the music do the talking, but hey it's a live show and a bit of interaction between members and the crowd would bring it to life. I know it's not his style, but just a little bit more banter with the crowd would allow Ray Alder to bring a bit of personality to proceedings. A few words about a few of the songs wouldn't go amiss - hell the band doesn't even get a name check here. Voice-wise Ray Alder can't get the high notes like he used to. He was apparently suffering from flu just before the show, so I'll forgive the places where he sounds a bit rough. However he seems to get into his a stride a few songs in - and there's not a lyric sheet in sight!

The extras are the usual suspects - plus something extra. There the promo video for Bleed Me Dry, and a short behind the scenes video which includes a great clip of the band dressing up as ants and invading the stage with Dream Theater in full flow. There's also a good video and photo Tour Diary set to a previously unreleased and untitled 11-minute instrumental track which the band wrote for the Dream Theater song writing contest around 2003. As the band has such a good story to tell I'd have thought an interview would have been worth including.

However, and I've saved the cream to the end, this DVD comes with the best type of bonus material there can be - a full CD of the entire concert! The ability to blast this out from my hi-fi will probably mean that the CD gets far more spins than the DVD. This alone makes it a fantastic value package. For fans of the band this is a total no brainer. For those yet to try the Redemption magic, this is as good a place to start as any. For me, my faith (and reason) has been fully restored.


Scott Alisoglu - www.BLABBERMOUTH.net - webzine - USA - 8 out of 10 points

This may be the first time I can determine whether a concert DVD actually captures the energy of the live performance. I was in attendance when REDEMPTION played their captivating nine-song set in Atlanta at ProgPower USA in 2007. Practically speaking, no DVD recording can ever truly mimic the experience of being there, but "Frozen in the Moment: Live in Atlanta" does capture the magical aura and incredible songwriting of the Los Angeles melodic/prog metal act.

Who could have ever known that the moment guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist/composer Nicolas van Dyk hatched the idea for REDEMPTION that the progressive music community would be awed for years to come. Across three stellar albums (the self-titled debut, "The Fullness of Time", and "The Origins of Ruin") this superb group of musicians has created music that is exceptionally composed — progressive, yet not technical overkill — and infinitely memorable. Van Dyk, vocalist Ray Alder (FATES WARNING), guitarist Bernie Versailles (AGENT STEEL), bassist Sean Andrews, keyboardist Greg Hosharian, and drummer Christ Quirarte are collectively the definition of "chemistry," creating a synergy matched by few bands, and each musician is individually at the top of his game. Those attributes are glaringly evident when one sees/hears the performance in front of a packed house of 1,200 devoted prog/power fans captured on this DVD.

Led by Alder's heartfelt vocal interpretation of van Dyk's lyrics, the sextet moves as one through songs from all three albums (only standout "Nocturnal" is taken from the debut though). Just like the albums, every song is a climactic moment, but none more so than what is easily one of the greatest prog/melodic metal opuses of all time, "Sapphire". At three-quarters of an hour it is a song that was too long to fit in the band's set opening for DREAM THEATER, but the crowd at ProgPower would have rioted if it weren't played. It is the definitive song of REDEMPTION's career (and probably will be for eternity). The lyrics about a heart wrenching breakup are as engrossing as the main melody, while the arrangement is breathtaking; never once does one think about the length of time that passes. It was the highlight of the set and says so much about what makes REDEMPTION such a special band.

As for the DVD quality as a whole, the sound and camera work are strong; no complaints there. The bonus features really should have included an interview and is the only disappointing part of the disc. A video/photo tour diary is also included and set to the music of a previously unreleased 11-minute instrumental track. The video for "Bleed me Dry" is also included. "Frozen in the Moment: Live in Atlanta" is not exactly jam packed with material, but this one is all about the performance. To that end, the DVD is a success and a mandatory purchase for REDEMPTION fans.


Tommy Hash - www.YTSEJAM.com - webzine - USA - 4 out of 5 points

They sound more like Fates Warning than Fates Warning does when it comes to the execution of progressive metal. The brainchild of axeman Nicolas van Dyk, Redemption has kept their strident brand of melodic thinking man’s metal up front in the mix, without too many symphonic or experimental connotations; fittingly so, van Dyk over the years has put together a tight band, one notable member, Fates Warning’s Ray Alder to front it all and along the way these guys have become one of the more solid technical metal acts to hit the scene.

Celebrating their performance at Atlanta’s 2007 ProgPower Festival, the band would capture their performance of nine tunes for just over an hour of raw, tight groove. And it is that tight rawness that keep the band’s punchy sound within at the forefront, where you have the axe attack leading the way, complimented by the keyboard leads & ambience, and syncopated staccato rhythms, thoroughly executing dark melodic progressive metal the way it should be, bringing the attitude of records such as The Fullness of Time and The Origins of Ruin to the stage.

The show is shot multi-angle in front of a fairly large audience, rather than a club, multiple cameras, a crane, and ‘digital’ quality are all in tow running through heavy tracks such as “The Suffocating Silence,” “Threads,” and “Fall on You” with both aggression and precision. The band usually has steered away from these big jam sessions, but included on the DVD is an unreleased instrumental studio track that plays over a photo/video sequence. Also there is the music video for “Bleed Me Dry” and some behind the scenes shots which go from bus antics to dancing on a massive keyboard in a toy store. There is also a CD that features the performance itself, which can gives somewhat of a perspective when listening to the music by itself – overall, making this a great package.

Frozen in the Moment - Live in Atlanta is mandatory for those who have followed this band throughout the years, marking another high point for the band that has taken their sophisticated edge of musicianship to heavier levels with each release, but kept it in tow for all things melodic and not hypnotic.


Mike "King-by-Tor" Sharkey - www.PROGARCHIVES.com - webzine - USA - 4 out of 5 points

''Are we having a good time!?'' Oh yes Ray, we are. Frozen In The Moment is Redemption's first DVD after 3 major cd releases, the later two of which have been received by nothing but open arms in the progressive metal community. For those unfamiliar, Redemption is a project born out of the creative minds of guitar player Nick van Dyk and former Fates Warning vocalist Ray Alder, the voice behind seminal progressive metal projects like Parallels and A Pleasant Shade of Gray. They play a style of progressive metal that can be roughly compared to Dream Theater with their heavy guitars, melodic hooks and use of keyboards that is more reminiscent of DT's Kevin Moore era, and this is probably why Dream Theater decided to take them along as a supporting act for their Chaos In Motion tour in 2007, on which this concert was filmed.

The concert itself is quite the sight to see, these guys are quite seasoned musicians. It also helps that Ray Alder has a good lot of experience as a major front man and knows how to work a crowd. They may be on a small stage, but they certainly make good use of what room is available to make for quite an energetic concert. While it is something of a short show this actually works to the dvd's advantage - the band seems to have picked the cream of the crop for the set list and there's never a dull moment or a snoozer that one might find in a 3 and a half hour concert that could be on by one of the better known bands of our time. Highlights are abound, and the camera crew does a pretty good job of finding the best moments and exposing them. One particularly impressive moment is when Greg Hoshariah goes on a mighty keyboard rampage in the middle of The Suffocating Silence and there's a perfect shot from directly above his showing the keyboard wizardry in all its glory.

The set is actually a very good one to get familiar with the band. Being that it goes through their entire discography this set is much more interesting than any compilation that could have been released. While the band only plays one song from their self titled debut, Nocturnal, it's pretty easy to see looking at an overview of their discography that their later two albums are much more representative of their sound and they focus their interests there. Bleed Me Dry shows the band in top form as they perform their latest single with a terrific amount of energy to get the show going after the particularly well done opener, Threads, and they never let up from there on in, unless it's just a second of silence to let Ray Alder thank the crowd. The prog fan in all of us will also be interested to know that some of the band's more lengthy songs are also included on the release, including the epic Sapphire, (which Alder introduces by warning the crowd that, ''this is a long one!''), the pounding Memory and the quick building Fall On You.

Of course the dvd would not be complete without some bonus material, now would it? Of course the band adds in a good deal of extras to make for some more good entertainment. This includes the full video for the single Bleed Me Dry, outtakes from the tour and an 11-minute featurette of the boys on the road set to pictures taken by the band and video as well which includes just about everything from the band dressing up as giant ants to invade Dream Theater on stage to lighting each other on fire. Of course this is set to an 11-minute instrumental tune previously unreleased by the band that apparently has no title, but whatever, it rocks.

Combine the fact that the DVD set also includes the CD of the same concert and you've got an excellent collection for anyone who happens to like progressive metal. Fans will be delighted and people who have no idea who Redemption are will finally be able to get a good overview of their discography with some pleasing visuals. This set is going to get 4 out of 5 - excellent stuff!