Review Summary: Its already over...
In the dreary summer of 2009, things were looking bleak for my music choice. I had The-All American Rejects on my iPod and was undergoing a shortage of a thing I needed, good mainstream Nu-Metal. My Breaking Benjamin worship was nearing its end and something had to change. That’s when one of my friends showed me Nashville rockers
Red. I heard the single ‘Breath into Me’ and fell in love. Despite the odd name choice (To which band members claim stand for strength) it still made good music to subside my teenage angst. Of course the question is not whether I was listening to ‘good’ music back in the day. It’s whether Red was capable of making good music on that important debut album.
Now something that first caught my attention is that this album was almost entirely written by, Rob Graves. A quick look up on Wikipedia shows that Rob is an accomplished producer, and it undoubtedly shows, as the debut is fairly good considering that this is their first real album. So expectations are high, although you can’t rub up off the feeling of disappointment that a majority of the record was written by Rob Graves. As I hit play, I am greeted with an Intro of sorts. I think Intros are fun but find them rather meaningless, although it sets up and flows beautifully into the first single, ‘Breathe Into Me’. This song was a great first single choice. As it has a catchy chorus with soaring vocals by lead singer Michael Barnes, also the drumming by Andrew Hendrix is superb (Who manages to keep up the entire album and makes the blandest songs interesting). This song carries with it your stock Nu-Metal sound, and is by far not the heaviest on the album.
Enter, ‘Let Go’ this song really shows off Michaels screaming ability. It is a real hard rocker; occasionally you can hear the strings that are present on a majority of the album. Which leads me to the strings and piano use on this album; it really adds to the music beautifully and is most notable on ‘Already Over’ and the amazing ‘Pieces’. Although starting off slowly ‘Already Over’ morphs into a beautiful hard-rocker. Including the strings that are so expertly included and some great vocals, this song clearly steals the show and proves that this band has some great talent going on. On the other hand, ‘Pieces’ slows down the tempo and gives you the best ballad I’ve ever heard. Including a haunting piano and heartfelt vocals this song keeps the energy going, after the slight miss that was ‘Lost’.
As soon as we bump over those two masterpieces we hit ‘Wasting Time’ and ‘Gave It All Away’. Enter the phrase “Linkin Park Worship”. Although very good heavy rock songs, with some metal influence, they come off as losing the uniqueness that was notable on a majority of the first six songs. The vocals and screaming really shine but they lose points after such a stellar beginning lineup. We then hit ‘Already Over Pt. 2’. A great ending to an album that lost some of its shine thanks to some bland music towards the end. It slows down, almost like ‘Pieces’. It stays that way throughout, never picking up like its name sake. It manages rather well to end this album on a good note.
Overall the debut by
Red is fantastic. Fans of mainstream rock should undoubtedly pick this up and enjoy.
