The Red Chord - Prey for Eyes (2007)
I remember when seeing The Red Chord when they first toured for this album in the Albany, NY area. They opened for BTBAM and it was a truly fantastic show. I still vividly remember them playing the title track (had not heard the album yet) and being extremely impressed with the structure of the song, intense grind perfectly transitioning into a mellowed out, ambient instrumental ending. I immediately purchased this CD and instantly fell in love with the whole thing.
The album starts out with a quick one-minute grind track and keeps bringing extremely heavy music right up to the last track. The thing that is truly great is that it doesn't get old like some similar musical examples. Each riff has a fresh but brutal feel. They also do a great job juxtaposing quick grind riffs with held out power-chord sections. Throw in some great breakdown-type riffs and (to my surprise) a few great, situational guitar solos and you end up with 45 interesting minutes. Another thing to note is the drumming. Both the actual sound of the drums (recording quality) and the beats are some of my favorite, ever. He talked about not using drum triggers on the album and it really shows. It has a natural feel and not that robotic sound of most death metal/grind bands today. The beats themselves are complex and a perfect backdrop to the rest of the band.
The album actually has a few really interesting instrumental parts, as mentioned above. They are the ends of Pray For Eyes and Seminar, as well as the entire It Came From Over There. These songs are unlike any other metal I really listen to and add a nice contrast to the rest of the great, brutal grind tracks. The end of Seminar (basically the whole song), is a perfect, creative way to end an album.
The Red Chord is one of the few bands that makes the grind/hardcore/death metal mix extremely enjoyable and re-playable to me.
*****
Songs for the Playlist:
Dread Prevailed
Send The Death Storm
Pray For Eyes
Bone Needle
Seminar
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