The golden rule of deathcore seems to be:
“You must insert a breakdown anywhere deemed necessary or whenever the song is beginning to sound stale.”
Don’t ask me why because honestly I can’t really tell you, it just seems to be the thing to do and kids who are into it eat it up. I’m not a fan of the genre at all; in fact at times I honestly can’t stand it. The band members themselves seem very unfocused and the music itself doesn’t really have any sort of impact or lasting appeal to the listener or music as a whole. The Red Chord is… a bit different. They like the idea of fusing the grindey aspects of metal with the deathcore-esque aspects.
This combination becomes their saving grace, plucking them from the pile of bands in their scene who are “ordinary” and putting them in the pile that would be “unordinary”. Unlike other bands related to them, they rely on their unorthodox brutality and heart racing moments than the dull low tuned chords and breakdowns that seem to plague the scene. It’s when the band is at their loudest, which is about 90 percent of the album, is when they’re not surprisingly at their best. “He Was Stretching and Than He Climbed up There” not only acts as the middle mark of the album but is also the only breathing room you’re going to get. When looking at the whole work, it may seem necessary but proves to be inappropriate. Thankfully, they don’t rely on the softer side of the musical spectrum by any means but I would’ve liked to see something a little more interesting musically than the filler presented.
Production wise, it’s not bad but it’s not exactly good either. Overall, it has a muddy sound to it, something that I would expect from a band like this. I’m all about dirty sounding production but it doesn’t seem to really strike me as anything interesting and I would blame the music for the reason of this. Now while it’s nothing too impressive, it does compliment the music quite well, being the mind numbingly fast album that it is.
I’ve yet to mention the fact that this is also The Red Chord’s debut album and as far as debut albums go it’s a great start. Last year the band put out their forth outing which when compared to this makes the band and record itself that more exceptional. When I first listened to “Fused Together in Revolving Doors” (which was the first material I had heard by them) I immediately thought it was above average but knew they could improve. It’s always great to see a band who matures with each album and that’s why their debut is important, it’s the groundwork for their creative approach to metal which has proven to be somewhat refreshing and successful, thanks guys.
