EVERY RED HEART SHINES TOWARD THE RED SUN

Like their debut record, the titles of the songs make up a short story. The concept of this album is based on the true story of how Mao Tse-Tung with his book "A Great Leap Forward" tried various ways to increase the economy of China. This movement started in 1958 and one of the plans that was implimented (the concept of this record) was the killing of millions of sparrows. They believed this would boost the crops because the sparrows ate too many seeds that were planted by the farmers. What they didn't realize was that the sparrows themselves loved to eat locusts. This allowed the locusts to wipe out the crops unhindered resulting (along with other failed plans) in the starvation of 30-50 million people in just 2 years. As for the music itself, it isn't as good as their debut in my opinion. There aren't the uplifting highs as this one is more balanced and even. This one is also darker and more melancholic.

I'm going to refer to the songs by their numerical order because of how long their titles are. Song One has an energetic intro that calms down a minute in before the tempo speeds up again. Tempo changes continue on perhaps the best song on the album. Song Two opens with delicate guitar and it sounds great ! Beautiful. A fuller sound after 2 minutes but then it settles back down before slowly rising back up. Song Three is a little more aggressive and heavier. Screaming guitar comes in as the song climaxes 7 1/2 minutes in.

Song Four is a mellow and mid paced tune. The song does intensify after 4 minutes and builds. Song Five is kind of boring really until it stops after 5 minutes and slowly comes back better than before. Song Six is a short song with some experimental sounds. Song Seven is more uplifting until it becomes dark and sad. It slowly builds a couple of times before finally becoming a more upbeat tune. Song Eight has lots of atmosphere until 4 1/2 minutes in when it kicks in with some aggressive guitars and drums, this is brief though as it becomes very laid back again before ending heavily.

This is a good record that kind of grew on me, although it still doesn't hold my attention like their debut does.