Fire In The Head: Emerald Rose Live
Emerald Rose
Independent release, 2002
REVIEW BY: Duke Egbert
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 10/14/2002
As the Pagan population in the United States and worldwide hasgrown over the last twenty years, so too has the obvious corollary;Pagan music. Similar in some ways to Christian contemporary music,a great number of artists have produced rock or pop music withPagan or Wiccan themes. Unfortunately, it has often suffered fromthe same problem that CCM has had; in a nutshell, a lot of itsucks. Too often, faith has been used as an excuse to put out badlyperformed, written, or produced music.
Isn't it nice to discover the exceptions? I've found a big onein the latest CD from Atlanta-based Emerald Rose, Fire In The Head.
Frankly, Emerald Rose rocks. The band (a standard four-piece oftwo guitars, bass, and drums, with a few arcane instrumental addslike bodhran and pennywhistle) is talented; they remind me a lot ofTempest, but where Tempest has occasionally sounded stilted orforced, Emerald Rose is relaxed, quick, and spontaneous.
Even more surprising, this is a live CD that sounds good.Longtime DV readers know my feelings about live CDs in general;most of them are poorly recorded and the sound quality suffers. Fire In The Head, however, was tightly miked, well-mixed,and smoothly recorded, but still has the immanence of a liverecording, with real crowd noise and audience banter. Thiswell-produced, eminently listenable CD is a great introduction toEmerald Rose's sound.
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