| After my first few listens I thought it was Clients pt.2, Electric Boogaloo - though after numerous other listenings I've completely pushed said thought out of my brainbox, and discovered an amazingly diverse and structurely sound album. It may tread into familiar territory and have an over-abundance of breakdowns, but they're well-written forays, and entertaining for the most part, making the sting of familiarity less severe. All of the members deliver outstanding performances, especially the extremely underrated Brad Fickeisen, who is capable of an extraordinarily broad range of styles - and has added a greater element of unpredictability than was present on Clients. Let us not forget Gunface, who kicks the lead meter on this album into overdrive, though in all honesty, I was hoping for just a smidgen more of what he delivered, because he's so damned good, and should show off a bit more and ditch his reserved approach. The new guitarist, Mike Keller, looks like he was pulled straight from the ranks of Norma Jean, but he's a great player and will be a nice addition to the band's already sterling live performance. Greg Weeks' bass sounds gnarly, throaty, and blends perfectly to deliver that quintessential Red Chord sound fans are used to. Guy's vocals sound great, and while he doesn't explore nearly as much territory as Fused did he still sounds great, and adds enough variation and well thought out vocal patterns to stop that portion of the album from falling into any form of mediocrity. Lastly, the production is crisp, clean and punchy. It's not as balls to the wall as Fused, but it's heavier and more inviting than Clients. Overall this album is chalk-full of the stuff Red Chord fans have appreciated and embraced from day one: a delicate and deftly handled fusion of death metal, grind, jazz, and dysrhythmic order. |
