The Red Chord "Clients" (Metal Blade)
By Taylor Green
Tuesday. Jun 28, 12:26 AM
A whole lot of everything, including disorientation.

The Red Chord have had a lot of positive press leading up to their Metal Blade debut, Clients. Anxious to discover what all the buzz is about, I delved as deeply as I could to find some tracks by this band, and what I found (the three standout tracks on Clients – "Fixation on the Plastics," "Lay the Tarp," and "Antman" – were readily available on a promotional EP) was pretty damn smooth at first. After a few listens, however, I wasn't as impressed as I could have been, and now after getting the full album, I have very mixed feelings about The Red Chord's second release.

The guitar riffs are halfway between grindcore and traditional death, and it's an interesting scheme. They sound like a math metal band but more rooted in death metal. The heart of The Red Chord is their excellent guitar work, and each song is uniquely different because of their more grindcore-centered roots (they stem from the Massachusetts metalcore scene). Backed by some great drum patterns, the album is a standout. There's obviously reason for such a buzz over a relatively small band, and the buzz breaks through in the power and viciousness of Clients. The Red Chord are out for your face from the beginning of the album to the end, and it's the unrelenting assault coupled with amazing musicianship that gives Clients its earned respect. But then there are the vocals.

Simply put, Clients would be one of the best death metal releases of the year if vocalist Guy Kozowik had more range than an angry pit bull. I've had this problem with a lot of metal bands lately, but with music this good backing it, it's a shame that the vocals don't have the breadth at front stage. I'm not sure what the lyric are, and from the track names it's hard to discern what the band's MO is. Obviously, their claim to fame is in the solid musical composition of the album. If there is one gripe, it's that the album is too diverse, and at times it can feel a little incoherent (particularly the instrumental final track "He Was Dead When I Got There," which is probably the least ambitious and least instrumentally interesting track on the album). For a grindcore release, Clients puts itself into high esteem, but it never roots itself into a specific genre, which is a little disorienting. It's not quite anything specifically, but it's got a whole lot of everything. Clients is an album you can only gauge after listening to it for yourself.

Highlights: "Lay the Tarp," "Black Santa," "Antman."
www.theredchord.com
www.metalblade.com

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Taylor Green

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