Reviewed by Graeme Crawford

Receiving a Grammy nomination for your debut album sets a high standard to follow. Fortunately for the Nashville rockers, their second release manages to live up to expectations. A strong and emotive collection, the songs provide hook-laden anthems that sit comfortably in today's market. Dealing with the same kind of inner demons that plagued them in their debut, Red have achieved success with singles from the album. Lead single "Fight Inside" debuted at number one in the Radio and Records Christian Rock chart, while the latest, "Death Of Me", reached number 34 in the American mainstream charts. Their sound remains similar to bands such as Kutless and Day Of Fire, but there seems to be more feeling in Red's songs despite the highly polished production taking an edge off the music almost to the point of being overproduced. The singles are amongst the strongest songs on the album. "Confessions" tries to be different but falls somewhat flat, and their cover of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" is interesting but too generic: there is no imprinting of their own sound, just a straight note for note playthrough. Despite this, 'Innocence And Instinct' is a powerful album which should appeal to fans of anthemic, emotionally fuelled rock.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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