Review Summary: A classic of modern extreme metal, and an album that helped birth a genre.
In the realm of extreme metal, their may be no genre quite as polarizing as deathcore. Despite the genre blowing up into mainstream popularity in the mid/late 2000s and spawning a huge scene of both underground and commercial bands, deathcore still manages to find the scorn of many a heavy music fan. The commercial appeal, slew or copycat artists, macho attitudes, and lack of variety between artists are just some complaints commonly leveled against the genre, and it's easy to see why its so disliked overall. However, prior to the commercial explosion, prior to Myspace, prior to all the teehee memes, their was The Red Chord.
Fused Together in Revolving Doors is a landmark of extreme metal. Being one of the earliest examples of a band fusing metalcore and death metal, The Red Chord come right out of the gate with a debut that would set the stage for an entire genre. Opening with a swarm of hyper technical riffing and blast beats set against the manic screams and growls of frontman Guy Kozowyk, opening track Nihilist initially sounds more akin to a deathgrind song than what we would expect from a deathcore one. Indeed influences from bands like Human Remains and Cephalic Carnage are very apparent all across the record, but as Nihilist storms forward through its relentless assault of grinding riffs, it suddenly slows down, leading itself into a long and protracted breakdown. This breakdown, and the many that will follow, are executed so creatively and with such force that they manage to avoid feeling repetative and boring, a trait which has bogged down many a deathcore act since.
Indeed what set this band apart from their contemporaries and the artists who would follow them is their apparent grindcore influences and their focus on songwriting. Mike "Gunface" Mckenzie is an expert at this, tying together technical riffing, creatively applied pinch harmonics, and sparing usage of breakdowns together with great precision. Fused Together in Revolving Doors showcases a focus on songwriting and creative experimentation not often seen within extreme metal, deathcore or otherwise. Take the bizarre and twisted sounding L Section for example, which starts with an aggressive blast of death metal yet suddenly breaks into a clean, almost progressive sounding guitar section during its bridge. Or the album highlight Dreaming in Dog Years, who's breakdown set against Guy's barked shouts of "Its not gonna be alright, its not gonna be ok," have become the stuff of legends. Every track on the record manages to distinguish itself making for a listening experience thats just as memorable and entertaining as it is punishing.
Fused Together in Revolving Doors is a classic not just of deathcore but of extreme metal as a whole. The Red Chord began their career with an album that helped to create a genre and one which to this day still stands as one of if not the best album of that genre. Its a shame a record so creative and innovative isn't given more love and attention as Fused deserves to be recognized as a modern classic.
