When it comes to underground bands who should/could have made it a lot further there are many names that spring to mind but one for me is The Red Chord, they have absolutely everything that a top band should have and then some! Over the course of 4 immaculate albums, they re-wrote the rule book on extreme metal, and it has now been 20 years since their breakthrough album Clients and it’s got a birthday remaster, not sure how you improve on perfection but here we are!!
It’s with a high excitement I press play and Fixation On Plastics may sound like some advertising slogan for some sappy save the sea type charity but its anything but sappy, it’s one of the most direct and unrelenting tracks on the album and still sounds urgent and furious, time can sometimes make things seem a bit better or worse, there has been no drop off in quality here, it sounded amazing then and it sounds even better now, I’m grinning from ear to ear as this new version is utterly amazing it just sounds so good!!
Lay The Tarp is a wonderful mix of death metal, hardcore and plenty of left turns, style wise, it’s difficult to describe really as they switch it up so often and shows early on that The Red Chord will not be pigeonholed into one simple sound or direction, Black Santa is even more intense and batshit crazy, full of blastbeats and insane guitar work that interweaves and checks backwards and forwards with the upmost ease there are bits of technicality that hurt my brain just listening to it but there is also enough blunt force heaviness to please the pickiest of listeners (yes, me).
Antman was released as the first single off the album, all those years ago and it still sounds as absolutely monstrous as it did 20 years ago it still holds all of the power today that it did then, its mix of different genres is mindboggling and expert at the same time, we get a tech metal, jazz, death explosion and honestly if this came out today as new release they would be heralded as the next big thing! Clients introduces the undeniable grindcore influence into things and its brutal, short and utterly mad, it opens up, blasts through and is done and over in exactly 1 minute of sonic amazingness.
Upper Decker is probably the best track on the album in my opinion, its fucking incredible in every way, musically, vocally and sonically this track has absolutely everything you could ever want in a track it’s an absolute masterpiece and always will be, it just builds and builds and the ending is fucking phenomenally brilliant!
Hospice Residence carries things on with another blitz of whirlwind drumming that is just unrelenting and punishing and really needs to be heard, the guitars pummel and scrape away at your nerve endings and the extra oomph that is added through the remastering for the vocals really pushes them to the fore and carries them on with a new force!
Dragon Wagon is a mathcore explosion with riffs flying in every direction and colliding into each other to make a wonderful noise and the hardcore elements really shine through here and the beefed up production adds another level to the sound, it sounds fuller that it did all those years ago which makes it sound even heavier that it did before which seems impossible but it’s been done and its brilliant!
Love On The Concrete is probably the most straightforward track on the album, there is still plenty of movement and tangents but it’s all done in a slightly more subtle way, its very hardcore influenced but takes a lot of death metal and mixes it together in a none deathcore way in only a manner that The Red chord can really pull off.
Blue Line Cretin benefits from the more polished and beefed up remaster treatment, it was one of my favourite track before but now it sound HUUUUUGEE, the way it batters its way through you from start to finish is fucking amazing, the guitars are sharp and grinding, it has an unbelievable drum performance and the vocals are just savage, a wonderful track made even more wonderful and I am here for it!.
Now, usually as you know if you read my reviews I can do without instrumentals, and He Was Dead When I Got Here is exactly that and a 7:43 one at that, I didn’t really care about it when it first came out, I listened to it once decided it wasn’t for me and pressed the stop button (cos it was 2005 and it was a CD!!) Yes, it was a bit of a frustrating end to things as it just felt like it sort of faded out rather that end with a bang but, what I will say about it is that it does show another side to The Red Chord, it shows they can be thoughtful and tactile and throws some stoner/post metal influences into the melting pot, which is to be commended.
I knew I already loved this album before I reviewed it, it sounds as important now as it did 20 years ago, there has never really been another band as unique as The Red Chord in the death/grind/hardcore genre, in fact they may have been THE band and for me probably always will be, they are peerless and as important as any other modern band you could care to mention if you don’t believe me listen to Clients, remember how old it is and tell who sounded like that in 2005 and if anyone does now are they this good, the answer is no.
Now, usually as you know if you read my reviews I can do without instrumentals, and He Was Dead When I Got Here is exactly that and a 7:43 one at that, I didn’t really care about it when it first came out, I listened to it once decided it wasn’t for me and pressed the stop button (cos it was 2005 and it was a CD!!) Yes, it was a bit of a frustrating end to things as it just felt like it sort of faded out rather that end with a bang but, what I will say about it is that it does show another side to The Red Chord, it shows they can be thoughtful and tactile and throws some stoner/post metal influences into the melting pot, which is to be commended.
I knew I already loved this album before I reviewed it, it sounds as important now as it did 20 years ago, there has never really been another band as unique as The Red Chord in the death/grind/hardcore genre, in fact they may have been THE band and for me probably always will be, they are peerless and as important as any other modern band you could care to mention if you don’t believe me listen to Clients, remember how old it is and tell who sounded like that in 2005 and if anyone does now are they this good, the answer is no.
Perfect album, awesome remaster, no complaints, listen to its and be thankful you exist in the same realm as this genuine masterpiece. 10/10
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