THE RED CHORD

It's a technical deathcore album. Boring. I would be bored to listen to it twice, of which already bored me once.

Although modern times have given metal some of its most cherished masterpieces, there is a general trend I have been noticing where legions of bands will sound almost indistinguishable from each other, leaving only slight nuances to define their identity as a unique band. American technical deathcore group The Red Chord is one such act that falls into this rut with a thousand other soundalikes, and while these musicians are certainly skilled at what they do, it becomes a somewhat disappointing ordeal due to the fact that there are many other bands out there that can do the same style with more success. With 2009, the band released 'Fed Through The Teeth Machine', which may be considered their greatest work to date, and while I have never been much into either the band or the sort of music they play, their tightness and skill as a group carries the music through, for the most part.

Although the sound of deathcore generally gets panned by many metalheads for being little more than a haven for generic breakdowns and lackluster composition, The Red Chord's technical flaunting does seek to dispel that generalization, delivering some incredibly complex moments with precise double kick drumming, crushing chord rhythms and a lead guitar that rarely lets down its barrage of speedy leads. As is the case for many of these bands however, the vocals do tend to be the weak link, and while they manage to get the raw aggression down fairly well, Kozowyk's growls lack the dynamic needed to be engaging. Instead, 'Fed Through The Teeth Machine' turns into a general waiting game, waiting for the next technical moment of excellence. This requires a fair bit of wading through those generic breakdowns of yore, but for someone looking for a bit of heavy riffing, the journey is worth it.

The only time where The Red Chord really starts getting impressive standing on their own feet is towards the end of the album. 'Sleepless Nights In The Compound' features a passage where the band takes an interesting guitar tapping idea and extends it a little, allowing the idea to develop before the heavy riffs take over once again. To the band's credit, the album is fixed in such a way where it flows nearly seamlessly from track to track, but this effect of oneness would have been present anyways, due to the fact that each song sounds more or less the same, disregarding the aforementioned tapping section, and a few sparse moments where The Red Chord opts to use a bit of restraint in what they do.

A fairly run-of-the-mill technical metal album, and while fans of the band and sort of metal they play will likely enjoy it much more than I did, I cannot see 'Fed Through The Teeth Machine' standing the test of time, despite being a fairly fiery listen.

The first thing you will notice when you hear this album, THE RED CHORD's latest, is how similar the singer's voice is to that of PANTERA's Phillip Anselmo. The tone is pretty much the same. But caution: I'm talking about Anselmo at his most growling, at his most hardcore. There are practically NO clean or calmed vocals here in this record, so there's hardly any other vocalist I can compare Kozowyk to.

The music is also influenced by PANTERA, by the Swedish and Floridian schools of death metal (if only it could've been more influenced by the Swedish melodic side of it), and by metalcore and grindcore, bearing some similarities with another band listed here in ProgArchives, DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN.

And just as the latter, THE RED CHORD is guilty, in my book, of excessive use of energy drinks (or something else). The record is 45 minutes long, and we barely get a 5 that are not played at a very fast, relentless tempo. There are a few moments of less-than-frantic speed here, but when that happens, the band loses all its (already weak) progressiveness. It sounds like a run-of-the-mill grindcore/deathcore band with little to distinguish it from other bands in the same genre. The few moments when these musicians (talented, I have to say) step on the brake pedal, we see a band with potential, with possibilities. We hear a band that could be in the same league as other bands that have managed to successfully cross the barrier between noise/extreme and progressive metal music, bands like BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME or even THE HUMAN ABSTRACT.

Coming back to the vocals, at times I feel that it's really the melody-less, senseless style of the singer that makes me appreciate the music even less. One evidence is the fact that during the track "Pray for Eyes", the less sung in the whole record, we have a very good instrumental section where the band shows restraint, control, and skills and prove that they can create really newer sounds. Another evidence is the fact that their only instrumental (hence, singer-less), "It Came From Over There", it's quite listenable and enjoyable. Maybe not 5-star material but at least worthy of a strong recommendation.

But as it is, THE RED CHORD's latest album fails to impress me. Its progressiveness is minimal, the singer is a poor version of Phillip Anselmo (who wasn't the best vocalist ever but at least his voice was, well, his, and he could sing when necessary) who can't produce any good effect in the music. This type of hardcore style of yelling, screaming and shouting doesn't add anything to music, neither the dark terrorizing effect of true-death-growling nor the evil sound of black metal high-pitched vocals. This is just NOISE which, when played on top of an already noisy band, can't create something truly outstanding.

This album would get a straight 1-star from me if it didn't have two tracks that save it. In the end, for fans of this kind of vocals and pause-less music, it could be a good addition to your collections.

2-stars. In a perfect world, this would get 1.5.

Pray for good music. You won't find it in "Pray for Eyes", only in one and a half song.

Sometimes, the band will have the listener recall Between the Buried and Me (unless the listener hasn't yet heard them, and if so why haven't they!?), as they often times have complicated chugging patterns with some crazy pinch harmonics done in a similar fashion. But The Red Chord lacks the experimentation and sophistication of Between the Buried and Me. Even BTBAM's debut (which came out in the same year as this) had a lot more to offer.

I definitely would rather listen to this than PsyOpus or Ion Dissonance, but if you disregard my tastes, they are about equal. So 2 stars it is. If you're into straight-up technical metal/grindcore/hardcore and don't mind a lack of variety, this is something to check out. If not, you probably shouldn't bother.