Review Summary: Redemptio is an epic album of epic cinematic orchestral tracks that are so powerful that can give you an instant mix of anxiety and awe! Proceed at your own risk
Redemptio is the latest, 17th, release in the stable of Kansas-based music producer Dell Johnston.
As experienced and talented as this Pittsburgh musician is, he remains mostly in the shadows due to being more about the music and more laconic about promoting his stuff. At the same time, he is very productive and truly became an established name in the local creative network.
Redemptio crowns the years of work in the industry, and is an attempt to reveal the songwriting capabilities of Dell Johnston in the epic neoclassical genre.
The whole thing feels massively inspired by blockbuster soundtracks and the early 2000s tradition of ambient and keyboard FX.
What makes Redemptio feel special is an unusually diverse spectrum of emotional attachment for each track, with some of them becoming genuinely scary (Velatus Umbra could easily fit The Army of Darkness). The same applies to the track lengths – they never feel too long or painfully bland – just as the musical thought is depleted, the composition ends. So two-minute interludes naturally follow longer epic tracks.
This diversity makes Redemptio an exciting listen even for someone who is not too keen on classical music. You know, when you remember the soundtrack better than the movie – this is just the case.
