Band : The Red Chord
Album title : Fed Through The Teeth Machine
Label : Metal Blade
Distributor : Rough Trade
Release date : 23/10/2009
Release : CD

My personal introduction to this Revere (MA) based quartet goes back to their sophomore album Clients (review, posted 15/07/2005, is still available for your factfinding needs). Due to circumstances, the band’s third album Prey For Eyes landed on the to-do desc of collegue Ivan (his very to-the-point review was posted 23/07/2007). So now there’s album N°4, and I do have to say I’d like to pick up some historical points before turning over to the judgement of the CD at hand.

You see, not only is the band now seen as one of the pioneering acts in the Deathcore genre (their style is actually best described as in their Wikipedia page: “…”TRC’s “Grindcore style of Death Metal” or “Death/ Grind” incorporates elements of Metalcore and Hardcore Punk and is typically experimental…TRC typically uses frequent tempo changes, technically proficient instrumental approach, and emphasiszes the element of groove in their music. The vocal style of Kozowyk combines Death Metal’s guttural growl with Metalcore-style screaming, uses occasional spoken-word, and is rather decipherable…”), but they díd undergo some internal changes. Still there is the band’s founder member, singer Guy Kozowyk, and guitarist Mike “Gunface” McKenzie, who joined the band a year into its existence…as well as bassist Gregory Weeks, who joined in early 2004, and drummer Brad Fickeisen, who joined just prior to the recordings of the Clients album. Somewhere after the release of that record, founding second guitarist Kevin Rampelberg quit the band, to be replaced by Jonny Fay, whom participated to the recordings of Prey For Eyes, but decided to leave in February 2007 (well before the album was released). His replacement, Mike Weeks, was let go in September 2007, and since then TRC has been a quartet by choice!

TRC has now seen all corners of the world, having toured all over the North American continent, Europe, and Japan. Clients sold in excess of 30,000 copies in the US alone, and was videos made for 4 of its songs (“Antman” became the single most played video clip on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball in 2005 and “Black Santa” was nominated for Best Video Of 2006 on the same show). Prey For Eyes saw the band even fare better, the album debuting at #198 in the Billboard 200 chart, and on #3 in the Heatseekers chart. Not bad at all, eh…for a band that peddles a musical genre which was once seen as a sub-genre to a sub-genre?

To record their new album, TRC travelled to Milford (New Hampshire) based Backyard Studios (where they recorded from early to mid-2009), which is owned by none other than their former guitarist Jonny Fay (whom served as co-producer, with mixing and mastering handled by Chris “Zeuss” Harris, whom already did the same with Clients). Of the material, McKenzie commented : “It’s a lot faster and, in my opinion, more straight-forward in a structural sense. We’re happy with the great work Jonny Fay and Zeuss did, too. It’s not a concept record, but there are some loose conceptual elements to it : hygienic obsession, delusional compound-dwellers, and Maniac Mansion.”. And now for a positive side on having too much work on one’s plate and not being able to hand in reviews ahead of release schedule, namely the fact that you get info on an album’s reception. You see, in the first week of it’s release, the new TRC album sold around 2,700 copies, earning it a #180 placement on the Billboard 200 charts (a sorry insight on how “The Crisis” has afflicted people’s record-buying behaviour can be seen here, considering that the previous album sold between 4,000 and 5,000 in its first week to reach only #198).

Whatever! In spite of now being just a 4-some, the band’s music still holds much of its intricacy thanks to the many tempo changes and technical interludes. And though there’s truth in that the music is somewhat more straight-forward, the band has nót forgotten the Groove content in their music. If anything, in spite of the fact that parts have a speedier pace, the music is overall even more acceptable in today’s Extreme Metal music terms. And as well all know, Extreme Metal has become part of the mainstream somewhat in the last couple of years! And the fact that Kozowyk delivers his vocals in a comprehensible way, can only change things in an increasingly more positive way for the band. If you’re looking to find full-length versions of songs off the new album, I only found the one (for “Demoralizer”, for which  they also shot a video during Halloween weekend with longtime video collaborator David Brodski) at myspace.com/theredchord, but the 5 tracks off the other albums are all rather representative of the band’s music, overall. If you’re looking for more music by this band, try the samples at Amazon.com. The band started a US tour with Gwar and Job For A Cowboy in late September, and with dates running well into December, there’s no telling when they’ll be around in Europe again!

90/100

Tony.