For a band with lots of references to death in its song titles (“Gold Killer,” “End of a Shotgun,” "Do You Wanna Live,” “My Execution”), the Canadian-American band Redlight King sure delivers the alive-and-well thrill of the human spirit. Take the title track of In Our Blood, a solid slab of anthemic hard rock that straddles the line between latter-period Def Leppard and prime Extreme: Oh we’re not giving up/We’ll find out how to survive the oncoming flood/Oh we’re not giving up/It’s in our blood.
Edgy and tough yet full of urgency, big choruses and even a bit of pop-radio tenderness (“Heavy Heart”), Redlight King’s songs have been featured on sports telecasts and in films like Iron Man 3 and Draft Day. You might’ve heard the band and not even known it!
In 2023, it can be difficult to find groups like Redlight King that both preach and practice the power of heavy rock. Almost everything you love about the genre is right here, in less than 38 minutes. As frontman Mark Kasprzyk sings halfway through the record: Rock n’ roll won’t save your soul/But it can raise the dead.
Amen, brother.
1. Gold Killer
2. In Our Blood
3. King Again
4. Eye of a Hurricane
5. Heavy Heart
6. Raise the Dead
7. Paid Off
8. End of a Shotgun
9. Evil Lies
10. Do You Wanna Live
11. My Execution
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