CONSUME RED

Consume Red is without a doubt one of the most rewarding experiences I have encountered. It may also be one of the most polarizing albums around, given the fact that people who like this, consider it a work of genius, and people who dislike it hate it passionately. As this review will show, I have become part of the first bunch, as this album grew on me like few have before it.

This is one of those one-track albums, and you might be tempted to believe it's a sprawling epic. Only it's not. It's pretty hard to explain what it actually is. According to some, unbearable noise. According to myself, an exercise in the exploration of sonic boundaries (although the two are not really self-exclusive, some may note). To put it in a descriptive manner, this track consists basically of a sample of an instrument called hojok from a traditional Korean opera (a very distinctive sound that you may grow to love) that is played over and over again, serving as a basis for building of the music. As the song progresses, scratches, percussion, guitars are slowly added in a seemingly erratic manner, until the whole thing finally explodes. The best thing is - it keeps on exploding for about twenty minutes afterwords. Saxophone, guitars, bass, and drums all tumbling in a menacing swirl until it finally crashes. For about ten minutes or so.

Breaking it down, it doesn't really give you the full picture of what it sounds like. You'd have to (try to) listen it yourselves. But I would say it is culturally significant for a number of reasons, ranging from its particular and extensive use of a sample (and the interesting scandal that followed, leading to a free culture debate) to the construction/deconstruction exercise of a musical piece while also encompassing the amazing use of soundscapes and textures. I find that this album cannot simply be anything else but a masterpiece of progressive music, where that is understood as music that is meant to take a step forward and challenge you, intellectually and emotionally. And while I am sure Consume Red may not appeal to those of you who are looking foremost for melody and harmony in music, it is without a doubt the one example you should have in your collection of music that challenges you constantly and of which you will never get bored very soon.