Sika Redem
c 2003 – 2008
Post-Hardcore band from Coventry, United Kingdom
Sika Redem are Luke McCusker (Drums), Ian Lee (Bass), Stein Fletcher (Guitar), Lewis Roden (Guitar) and Tommy Jones (Vocals).
Members joined after lineup changed following the realease of Entheogen. Recorded and played live, recorded still unreleased projects:
Adam Hare / keyboards
Aaron McCusker / Bass Guitar
From BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire Live bands blog 28 October 2014 –
Sika Redem studio bound
” We caught up with September’s band of the month Sika Redem just in time before they
head off to deepest, darkest Wales to record their debut album.
Yes, Coventry’s noise mongers are heading off to Foel Studios to hole up away from civilisation (well about eight miles away from the nearest town) to follow in the footsteps of Eden Maine – and they got four K’s from rock bible Kerrang! for their To You the First Star album.
We hope Sika Redem can do the same – the band have certainly been busy writing new material throughout the year. And the tapes from the recording studio will be mixed by Sweden’s Magnus Lindburg of Cult of Luna. The boys are hoping to head over to Scandinavia to oversee the production as well as to check out Magnus’ accent – well you would wouldn’t you?!
The five-piece has been together for two years and according to Fletcher it’s hard to define their sound.
The guitarist said: “Influences are anybody that has challenged us to push things forward and to be creative. There are far too many bands to pin our collective sound down to”.
Making an impact
Sika Redem are making their mark as one of the best new metal bands. The five boys’ demo EP No Gods No Masters from 2004 was well received around the country (it was limited to 150 copies and they all sold) and having had tracks added to various compilations since, their solo debut is somewhat anticipated.
The Coventry outfit can count the likes of Rock Sound’s head honcho Darren Taylor to Mr. Hydra Head himself, Aaron Turner (ISIS, etc, etc, etc!) as fans – yes it looks like the boys have been causing a stir.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2005/09/06/sika_redem_botm_feature.shtml
The five boys’ demo EP No Gods No Masters from 2004
Label:
The Communion Records – none
Format: CD, EP / Country: UK / Released: 2004 /Genre: Rock
Style: Post-Metal, Post-Hardcore
Tracklist
1 Chapter One
2 Nothing I’d Lament
3 No Gods No Masters
Track listing
1 The October Bird of Death 10:23
2 Mr. Hunk 6:13
3 The Race From Hominid to Star Flight 5:07
4 Euglena 1:33
5 The Protagonist Fails, the Pugilist Falls 11:24
6 Shields 6:48
7 Proud Sons of a Magnanimous 3:37
8 Stretching for the Zenith 9:55
9 Sekret Redem 4:32
Description on Amazon
“Sometimes music just needs to be experimental, challenging, chaotic and yet at the same time beautiful and pure. Coventry’s Sika Redem are all of this and some. Indeed here is a band that take thinking man’s rock into a totally new dimension. Mixing the chaos of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Eden Maine with the brooding atmospherics of Mono, Isis and Mogwai, Sika Redem don’t copy – they reinvent popular genres to create moods not experienced before. Entheogen the band’s debut album – takes the listener on a dark journey, through peaks and valleys of emotion and moods. From the haunting epic opener of The October Bird Of Death, to adventurous The Protagonist Fails, The Pugilist Falls right through to closer Sekret Redem this is an album that truly deserves to be described as unique.”
“Post-Hardcore, Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Screamo, Post-Rock
Descriptors angry, atmospheric, passionate, chaotic, epic”
Reviews from Amazon
“This record is without doubt the best thing I’ve heard in the last 12 months. Taking the epic crunch of Isis and the delicate post rock of Mono and Godspeed YBE, the massive feel of Pelican and a dollop of the hypnotic groove of Tool, and you’re about half way there.
The record feels like a progression in it’s own right – it feels like it’s moving things forward, and that’s a rare thing in what is a largely stagnant scene. At once crushing and unbelievably pretty it requires an investment of time to really get the most from, but it will continue to pay dividends. I buy a lot of records and it’s rare for a CD to stay in my player for more than a day consistently, this record has been on rotation for two weeks and counting. And I feel richer for it.”
“To those out there who think that the new rock bands are pale imitations of what’s gone before, I say take a listen to Sika Redem. Innovative, talented and definitely the rock trailblazers of the 21st Century. Entheogen is pure genius.”
“A good and interesting album which connects mathcore like ‘Dillinger Escape Plan’ and post rock like ‘Mogwai’ to something maybe not entirely unique but nevertheless it is well made. Very talented band.”
“Sika Redem are a sadly underappreciated band from Coventry. Their schizophrenic, cathartic yet beautiful sound could be broadly generalised as screamo, but there’s so many different elements to take note of in their music that it’s quite hard to tell. While it fuses together so many different influences, never once does Entheogen sound contrived or, indeed, anything less than unique. There is a broad sonic range on display here: the epic album opener “The October Bird of Death” showcases Sika Redem’s capabilities perhaps better than any other track here, an impressively seamless flow from jarring discordance to inventive mellow guitar-tapping; from furious screamo to enormous epic climaxes. ‘Mr. Hunk’, ‘The Race From Hominid To Star Flight’ and ‘Shields’ sound, to throw some lazy journo metaphors out there, somewhat like Off Minor teaming up with Mogwai to fend off Isis at their most colossal. Their noodling post-rock guitar lines are juxtaposed with towering walls of almighty noise. ‘Euglena’ and ‘Proud Sons of a Magnanimous Land’, meanwhile, show that they also have the art of short bursts of cathartic screamo-meets-mathcore firmly under their belts. Sika Redem’s sense for the epic is, opening track aside, most noticeable in ‘The Protagonist Fails, The Pugilist Falls’ and ‘Stretching for the Zenith’, two sprawling, gargantuan tracks that reward attentive listening immensely. Tommy Jones’ vocals also display an impressive range, flitting from impassioned, abrasive screams and desperate yelps to ethereal crooning. Browsing the lyric sheet only makes things more involving – Entheogen is a complex, compelling album brimming with emotion. The production, done by Magnus Lindberg (most notable for his involvement with Cult of Luna), is also of note – it sounds enormous yet distinctly unpolished, a raw titan of an album. This review makes Entheogen sound frankly all over the place, but that is simply because it is hard to describe the sound without resorting to lazy comparisons. It is a very coherent and unique-sounding record, each song carrying with it a distinct sound that could only be attributed to Sika Redem themselves, whilst displaying an impressive amount of invention and variety. Don’t miss out, immerse yourself in their chaotic, dizzying wonderland – it’s a trip that you won’t forget.”
Review by Jordan Dowling August 9th, 2006 archived on this site https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/1021381-discover–sika-redem
It’s unfortunate that at the beginning of this piece I cannot set a scene. I’d like to tell you that the interview I conducted with Lewis Roden, guitarist of Coventry-based five-piece Sika Redem (Luke McCusker, Stein Fletcher, Tommy J and Ian Lee make up the numbers), was recorded onto a Dictaphone while sitting outside of a disused observatory, or on the roof of some star-reaching skyscraper. If I did I’d be lying, as instead of taking place in a location befitting such an otherworldly, yet strangely grounded band, questions and answers were merely traded back and forth on an internet messaging service.
In late May 2006 Sika Redem released their long-overdue debut album Entheogen, to a bank of hushed praise. The nine-track album received 9/10 or 4/5 reviews in several magazines and webzines, but the band have had a conspicuously slight amount of press coverage. Not that this bothers the band – for them it’s strictly music, something that’s apparent from the album itself, which Lewis is keen to discuss at length.
—
“There isn’t really a set songwriting process. Riffs and ideas come from each of us, then we’ll them elaborate on and work them into other riffs and pieces”
—
“On Entheogen some of the songs were over a year old – ‘Zenith’, ‘Proud sons…’ and ‘Protagonist’ were written nearly straight after our first EP, No Gods No Masters, was released. Those songs had a stricter design, and due to having no worries about deadlines were allowed time to develop.
“There isn’t really a set songwriting process – riffs and ideas come from each of us, then we’ll them elaborate on and work them into other riffs and pieces, sometimes bits from jams, sections of things. The songs ‘Mr Hunk’ and ‘Sekret Redem’ in particular are more jam based, those songs lend themselves to a bit more freedom and improvisation. We do jam a lot, we’d like to get more of it into our songs, but we seem to forget, or get bored quite quickly and enjoy working things out and messing about with them.”
As anyone who has heard Entheogen (pictured left) will know, this is more than evident. While their first EP, a three-track slab of intense and oceanic post-metal, seemed to lack ingenuity despite its high quality, their debut album is a great step forward – a step into the unknown. Earlier tracks were built on the traditional, and highly predictable quiet-LOUD-quiet structure on Entheogen there is a sense chaos, in volume, tempo and any other element you care to mention.
Take second track ‘The October Bird Of Death’. Crashing in with falsetto wails and cymbal hits, it soon burns through screams and complex, punishing riffs before settling into a clean, hushed melody – all in just over a minute. With such ever-changing music, it’s hard to pin down a clear inspiration. Lewis quotes Pink Floyd, The Murder Of Rosa Luxemburg, The Verve and Orchid among others, yet it’s hard to find more than a couple of seconds that could be accredited to any band’s influence.
So what is the band’s opinion of the album? Obviously with such a dynamic change from their EP there must be a certain dissatisfaction with their earlier material, or a hyper-active refusal to retread waters – can a greater change be expected in the future?
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“We always want to challenge ourselves. No direction is planned…”
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“We are very proud to have gotten to make the record and have it released – it’s the high water mark of what we’ve done so far. There’s certainly no tracks that we wish weren’t in, and it’s definitely a statement – a document of us at that very point.
“When we talk as a band, it’s always about the next thing we’re gonna get into. We always want to challenge ourselves. No direction is planned… I don’t know if that’s to our detriment, if it causes us to be unfocused, or not give time for certain aspects to breath or develop themselves. Maybe slowing down and refining ideas we have under our belts would be a good thing for us, but it seems that any time you consciously direct the music you end up fucking it up, or turning out something fake.”
The band will begin their first tour since the release of Entheogen in September. Although full dates are unavailable, Lewis is keen to display his enthusiasm for taking to the live stage. I ask him where his preferred place is, on stage or in the recording studio.
“We would like to be in a position to do both, all the time. I can’t wait for us to tour, as we ain’t played in ages and ages. The live playing – if anyone comes to see it – is awesome if there is a crowd who like it, and just hanging out with your mates in a new city is beautiful.
“Right now, playing live is the more important thing for us, although I love the creation of new stuff in practice. It’s hard – if the vibe doesn’t happen live then it hurts, same as if the vibe when writing isn’t there it’s disheartening, there is nothing you can do to bring it up, to make it happen.”
If you like to be challenged by music, to follow it through after hitting the glass prism, then be sure to check out Sika Redem live and/or to purchase Entheogen. It may seem hard to swallow at first, but the sound they create is as enticing as it is thought-provoking, a pulsing ever-changing behemoth that takes in and chews up prog-rock, post-rock, metal and hardcore, producing something truly uncategorisable.”
