PREY FOR EYES

The first thing you will notice when you hear this album, THE RED CHORD's latest, is how similar the singer's voice is to that of PANTERA's Phillip Anselmo. The tone is pretty much the same. But caution: I'm talking about Anselmo at his most growling, at his most hardcore. There are practically NO clean or calmed vocals here in this record, so there's hardly any other vocalist I can compare Kozowyk to.

The music is also influenced by PANTERA, by the Swedish and Floridian schools of death metal (if only it could've been more influenced by the Swedish melodic side of it), and by metalcore and grindcore, bearing some similarities with another band listed here in ProgArchives, DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN.

And just as the latter, THE RED CHORD is guilty, in my book, of excessive use of energy drinks (or something else). The record is 45 minutes long, and we barely get a 5 that are not played at a very fast, relentless tempo. There are a few moments of less-than-frantic speed here, but when that happens, the band loses all its (already weak) progressiveness. It sounds like a run-of-the-mill grindcore/deathcore band with little to distinguish it from other bands in the same genre. The few moments when these musicians (talented, I have to say) step on the brake pedal, we see a band with potential, with possibilities. We hear a band that could be in the same league as other bands that have managed to successfully cross the barrier between noise/extreme and progressive metal music, bands like BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME or even THE HUMAN ABSTRACT.

Coming back to the vocals, at times I feel that it's really the melody-less, senseless style of the singer that makes me appreciate the music even less. One evidence is the fact that during the track "Pray for Eyes", the less sung in the whole record, we have a very good instrumental section where the band shows restraint, control, and skills and prove that they can create really newer sounds. Another evidence is the fact that their only instrumental (hence, singer-less), "It Came From Over There", it's quite listenable and enjoyable. Maybe not 5-star material but at least worthy of a strong recommendation.

But as it is, THE RED CHORD's latest album fails to impress me. Its progressiveness is minimal, the singer is a poor version of Phillip Anselmo (who wasn't the best vocalist ever but at least his voice was, well, his, and he could sing when necessary) who can't produce any good effect in the music. This type of hardcore style of yelling, screaming and shouting doesn't add anything to music, neither the dark terrorizing effect of true-death-growling nor the evil sound of black metal high-pitched vocals. This is just NOISE which, when played on top of an already noisy band, can't create something truly outstanding.

This album would get a straight 1-star from me if it didn't have two tracks that save it. In the end, for fans of this kind of vocals and pause-less music, it could be a good addition to your collections.

2-stars. In a perfect world, this would get 1.5.

Pray for good music. You won't find it in "Pray for Eyes", only in one and a half song.