Review Summary: Strings Galore
Anyone who has followed Red to any extent will recall that their previous record "Release The Panic" stripped away most of the strings and dramatic elements that had defined their first three albums in favor of a more generic, mainstream sound. Most responded by heaping as much criticism upon it as possible. Red apparently got the message and created "Release The Panic: Recalibrated" with the string elements added back in to a number of songs from the original release. After all the drama cleared it remained unclear as to whether Red would actually return to their strings for good or continue down a different path.
That question has officially been answered as Red is back with more strings than ever before. From start to finish, this album drips and oozes with strings all over the place almost as if they're doing strings for strings sake in an attempt to kill their disgruntled fans with "string" kindness.
Regardless, "Of Beauty and Rage" is a huge improvement over RTP and marks one of their best efforts to date. While RTP and their 2011 release "Until We Have Faces" came up a bit short in terms of intensity, Rage is probably one of Red's heaviest if not their heaviest album so far. Songs like "Imposter," "Fight to Forget," "Falling Sky," "What You Keep Alive" and "Gravity Lies" show Red bringing the fire. Lead singer, Michael Barnes, is the most generous with his screams that he's ever been thus far. Love & Death's drummer, Dan Johnson is also a great addition to this record as the intensity of his drumming helps lend to the heavier vibe. While RTP seemed content to rely mostly on power chords, Rage ups the game with more intricate riffs that add an angry snarl that was mostly absent from the last two albums. The record as a whole feels like a larger, grander, more complete album.
This is also a much darker project than anything Red has done recently. Tracks such as "Imposter," "Shadow and Soul" and "What You Keep Alive" have a dark, brooding overtone as Barnes and the rest of the band deal with the tension between who we are and the evil within that would destroy us. Lines such as "You keep me alive (so I can hurt you)" illustrate how our vices only hurt us but yet we can't seem to give them up.
To flesh the album out a little, Red included three instrumental tracks to mark the beginning, middle and end. The result is only partially successful. While "Descent" works well in that it sets the tone for the rest of the disk, "The Forest" doesn't really help the album in any way as it's just kind of "there." Some have complained that "Ascent" is too long of an album closer. While it does drag on a bit, it almost provides a sense of relief after the listener has just finished grappling with some heavy musical and thematic material. It's like watching Frodo and Sam being rescued by eagles after the destruction of the ring at Mordor. It's therapeutic, you might say.
As good as Rage is, there are some flaws that are worth mentioning. First off, the track layout is arranged so that the album starts with the "rage" side and finishes with the "beauty" part. As a concept that makes sense but it sets it up so that the last three non-instrumental songs are all softer. After a fairly intense album, it's a little hard to journey through the last part where Red has grouped the majority of its soft songs all together. Also, after coming off of one of the strongest heavy tracks, "Gravity Lies," Red immediately transitions into "Take Me Over" which could pass for a Newsboys worship song. It's not bad, per se, but I don't think it belongs on this album. There are times as well where Red seems a little confused or uninspired. "The Ever" has one of the best choruses on the disc but the second verse stretches itself too far as Red tries to create some epic, grandiose climax to the record but ends up taking forever to go nowhere. And while Red has always been strong on melody, it's not overly abundant here. "Of Beauty and Rage" is not as accessible as their previous offerings and requires spending some quality time with it to really get a good handle on everything that's here.
Despite the shortcomings, Red has managed to craft one of the best albums of their career. They have returned to what has always worked well for them without becoming stale. All of the tracks wrap around the beauty and rage theme and help create a central focus for the record. Now that Red has gotten back in the game it will be interesting to see where they go from here. But until then, we have one heck of an album to savor in the meantime, strings and all.
