Russian/American rock outfit RSC, aka RedScool, recently released a new single, “Shadow Lady,” a track from their forthcoming album, produced by Jack Benzin.
Made up of Russian and American musicians, RSC was formed by Sergei Fedetov (guitar), and includes Chris Hodges (vocals), Ilya “Lu” Smirnov (guitar, backing vocals), Sergey Dik (bass), and Andrey Kruglov (drums).
The band’s members have played with the world’s leading artists, on major stages, including The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Coachella, Lollapalooza, and a host of others. RSC has toured and shared the stage with Dream Theater, Whitesnake, and Iron Maiden.
RSC’s maxim is: Unity, passion, and rock. Their sound merges muscular old school rock with fresh new vibes, witnessed by their successive recent singles, such as “Confession,” “Bad Story,” “Moving On,” and “Fire in Her.”
“Shadow Lady” opens on eerie emerging psychedelic colors and then mousses up to rough-and-ready grinding guitars supported by a fat thrumming bassline and finessed yet dominant percussion. Luminous guitar licks glide in the backdrop, filling the tune with incandescent licks and sizzling accents.
Hodges voice, raw and rasping, infuses the lyrics with visceral textures of high octane tones, along with passionate, incinerating timbres. His is definitely one of the premier rock voices around, akin to Axl Rose in his prime and Scott Weiland, combining ragged roaring surfaces with velvety melodicism.
The interweaving layers of guitars project an irresistible, impassable wall-of-sound, followed by Fedetov’s brilliant display of skill on the solo section, where he allows space between the notes while churning out scorching sonic heat. The combination of Hodges’ stellar vocals and the all-consuming guitars surpasses ferocious and enters the rarified realm of savagely brutal. There’s wickedly wild energy to the amalgamation – palpable with harsh-textured aggression, as well as tantalizing coalescence of the various strata.
RSC gives it up! “Shadow Lady” sizzles with varnishes of atavistic rock power, a grandly brawny rhythm, and the deluxe voice of Chris Hodges.
