CD Review: The Red Chord, "Fed Through the Teeth Machine"

As a word of warning to death metal bands everywhere, you should never make your second album a masterpiece that blurs genre lines and leaves critics and fans alike simultaneously scratching and banging their heads. It just makes it that much harder to get the accolades you deserve when your later releases don't live up to your own high water mark.

Such might be the case with The Red Chord, whose 2005 record, Clients, found a balance between old-school technical death metal, the then-just emerging deathcore sound, and moments of sheer melodic beauty. They shoved these influences into what were actual songs, not just parts put next to one another. So when Prey for Eyes was released in 2007 and wasn't one of the best albums of all time, it was a bit of a disappointment. Sure, there were great tracks like "Dread Prevailed" and "Bone Needle", but the effort as a whole fell short of the standard set by Clients.

The brand-new Fed Through the Teeth Machine surpasses its predecessor in terms of consistency and memorability, but still falls shy of 2005's slab of gold. But that shouldn't matter, and the more I realize that, the more I come to like the new record. "Hour of Rats" might be the best song the band has ever recorded, and the entire album has a very cohesive sense of vision about it. There's a sense of subtlety that even Clients tended to lack, and the result is a very enjoyable and easily stomached listening experience.

The Red Chord have always had certain songs on their records that fulfill a certain archetype, but it's been a slap in the face sometimes how obvious that was. The title track from Clients and "Film Critiques and Militia Men" were straightforward, short, heavy songs. So is "Demoralizer", but it's less obvious that that's what's going on. Similarly, unlike the huge, melodic epics "He Was Dead When I Got There" and "Seminar" from previous releases, "Mouthful of Precious Stones" and "Sleepless Nights in the Compound" are sneakier and more clever in their delivery of the massive goods.

Lots of factors contribute to why this might be the best record the Red Chord will ever make not entitled Clients, and it would be in your best interest as a listener to check it out with an open mind.