Review Summary: The Red Shore presents us with a brutal, but boring album.
Hailing From Geelong, Victoria of Australia, The Red Shore presents us with their first full-length titled “Unconsecrated”. This five piece deathcore band consists of Jamie Hope (vocals), Jason Leombruni (guitar), Roman Koester (guitar), Jon Green (bass), and Jake Green (drums). “Unconsecrated” was release on Siege of Amida Records. A strong follow-up for their debut EP “Salvaging What’s Left”. While the EP was more along the lines of metalcore, the new release will most likely be regarded as deathcore. With that being the most notable difference, there is one other landmark change in the band. While touring as support for the American deathcore act All Shall Perish, The Red Shore were involved in a fatal traffic accident. Their band van crashed killing passenger Damien Morris, then vocals, as well as the driver (whom was the band merchandiser). The extremely unfortunate event obviously had a HUGE effect on the band. Instead of allowing the incident to tear the band to shreds, they used it as a fuel for their fire. This drive in their lives, as well as in their music, led to them producing one of the heaviest and most passionate deathcore albums of the year.
“Unconsecrated” is unfortunately just another deathcore album. There are blast beats, some-what catchy riffs, double pedal, quick guitars, brutal vocals, and of course breakdowns. The most notable aspect of this young group is definitely the heaviness/brutalness. In the sense of brutality, they are located in the same tier as Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, and From The Shallows. While many deathcore bands are just trying to sound as heavy as freaking possible, The Red Shore seems to be producing music that they want to make, its for themselves, its for Damien Morris, it is not purely for the fans.
The guitar work on the album is typical of the deathcore scene. Its heavy, it’s fast, and very chug oriented. The lack of leads almost separates them from their peers, in the sense that they don’t really even attempt leads. Let me explain. The average deathcore band always has the section every album or song where they attempt to show off their already lacking talent. In most cases the leads are laughable and are considered failures by critics (although there are a handful of exceptions). In the case of The Red Shore, they don’t even attempt ear-blistering leads. Perhaps they understand it doesn’t fit with their style of play, or maybe they just don’t have the talent to do such. Either way, it takes the fresh breathe of technical out of the sentence.
With the loss of Damien Morris, the band hoped that Jamie Hope could fill his shoes, and were they some big shoes to be filled. It’s sad to say, he didn’t quite fill them all the way. While he has the vocals to be another average deathcore vocalist, he lacks the utter power that Damien once possessed. At points they sound raspy, specifically on the lower end of the spectrum. Then at times, his higher end material shows promise. In the end, the vocals are what you’d expect from a deathcore band, they are mediocre at best.
Finally the percussionist, Jake Green, does a fine job. He does everything everyone expects him to do…blast beats and double pedal. Neither of which are special on a notable level. At times the drums seem out of place, however this could be due to the constant chugging on the guitarist end. Either way, there are points on the album where things just don’t mesh as they would like it too. Jake Green is just another drummer in the scene.
All in all, the album is a decent piece of work. The heaviness may make up for the lack of technical ability for some listeners. However, listeners searching for some mind-blowing talent would be wasting their time here. Although the band members are mediocre musicians, they put together a solid first full-length. It really comes down to the breakdowns, which so many bands love and abuse nowadays. Throughout the album, there is minimal change between songs. If it weren't for the two second pause between tracks, the listener would have great difficulty knowing when one track ends and another begins
Track Ratings:
The Garden of Impurity - 2.8
Misery Hymn - 3.0
Deception: prologue - 2.9
Slain by the Serpent - 3.1
The Architects of Repulsion - 3.4
Your Chariot Awaits - 3.0
The Forefront of Failure - 3.1
Nephilim - 3.2
Vehemence The Phoenix - 3.9
