The Color of Collapse in a Burning World: Up Before The Sun - Colder Turning Red (Track Review) Released: 9/27/24
"Colder Turning Red" is the kind of single that doesn't just introduce itself; it materializes around you, tightening the air, sharpening the edges of the room, pulling you into its psychological gravity before you've even realized you've crossed the threshold. Up Before The Sun, the Chicago-based progressive metal trio of Joshua McKenney, Jason Andropolis, and Eva Van Dyne, have crafted a track that feels like a confrontation with your own distorted reflection: tense, introspective, and uncomfortably honest. What makes the song so compelling is how deliberately it plays with perception. McKenney's lyrics revolve around The Glare as a recurring force that blinds, overwhelms, and manipulates the mind into believing its own distortions. The repetition of "You think you know, you know, you know" becomes a mantra of unraveling certainty, a reminder that confidence can be a mask for denial. The shift from "When do your eyes deceive you?" to "When do your lies believe you?" is one of the song's sharpest turns, a moment where internal and external pressures collapse into each other as the sound of someone finally realizing they've been complicit in their own undoing.
McKenney's vocal performance amplifies the tension. He moves between a withdrawn, almost whispered restraint and a sharper urgency that cuts through the mix like a warning siren. There's a fragility to it, but also a simmering frustration and the kind that builds quietly until it demands to be acknowledged. Andropolis' guitar and bass work give the track its cold, reflective architecture. His riffs twist and refract like light hitting a fractured surface, creating movement that feels both fluid and claustrophobic. The low end pulses with a metallic chill, and his mix choices add to the psychological tension, and yet everything sounds close, almost too close, as if the instruments are pressing in from all sides. There's a glassy sheen to the production that mirrors the lyrical fixation on glare, reflection, and distortion. Van Dyne's drumming is the stabilizing force keeping the track from spiraling into chaos. Her patterns shift with precision, moving from tight syncopated grooves to sudden bursts of intensity that mirror the emotional spikes in the vocals. She plays with controlled volatility, like someone tapping their fingers on a table while trying not to explode. Her restraint is as impactful as her aggression.
One of the most striking elements is the song's use of binaries: light and shadow, truth and deception, clarity and confusion. Lines like "Blue light personified" and "All denying minds are pushed to the brink" paint a picture of someone caught in the overstimulated haze of modern life, where screens, expectations, and internal narratives collide until everything becomes indistinguishable. The song captures the emotional exhaustion of navigating a world where perception is constantly manipulated, whether by technology, pressure, or your own spiraling thoughts. Yet for all its coldness and tension, the track isn't hopeless. The emotional shift in the final third is subtle but powerful. The repeated image of lighting a flare becomes a moment of connection, a signal sent out into the darkness in hopes that someone will see it. "In your despair, light a flare, and I can see you there" is the song's most vulnerable line, a reminder that even in isolation, there's a possibility of being witnessed. The world may get "colder as it turns," but the flare suggests that warmth isn't entirely lost; it just has to be fought for.
This shift doesn't resolve the tension; it reframes it. Instead of being swallowed by The Glare, the narrator begins to push back. The final repetition of the title feels less like a collapse and more like a transformation, a recognition that clarity sometimes comes only after everything has burned away. "Colder Turning Red" is a standout release not because it's flashy or aggressive, but because it's honest. It captures the feeling of standing too close to something that distorts you, and of trying to find a way back to yourself through the noise. Progressive metal that prioritizes storytelling and atmosphere as much as complexity and a song that lingers long after it ends.
Here's the visualizer for Colder Turning Red:
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