Hailing from Revere, Mass., the Red Chord have spent the past five years or so making a name for themselves as one of the premiere grindcore crossover bands in the country. Their sophomore release, Clients, is a frenzied blast of uncompromising aggression that fuses the chaos, growling vocals and lightening-fast beats of death metal and grindcore with the technical prowess of experimental math- metal and the occasional driving, mid-tempo hardcore rhythm. Frankly, the band seems to be striving to combine just about every genre of heavy music, and for the most part the mix is an overwhelming success.
The band is strongest when they're at their most frenetic and unpredictable. The complicated rhythms keep things fresh, as well as setting the Red Chord apart from the thousands of generic grindcore bands out there who rely on speed alone to provide the necessary aggressive backbone. The album's opener, "Fixation on Plastics", is 2:44 seconds of blast beats, squealing guitar harmonics, and singer Guy Kozowyk's guttural, inhuman roar. Fueled by drummer Brad Frickeisen, the song shifts gears so rapidly it's almost hard to keep up. Similarly, "Black Santa" is unrelenting, offering solid proof that the band's ability to maintain focus at lightening-fast speeds is one of their biggest assets. "Upper Decker" throws in a completely unexpected, minute-long bridge about halfway through that combines rumbling drums with atmospheric guitar strumming. It's almost, dare I say, pretty, yet as the song kicks back into high gear, everything gets progressively more intense. The result is one of the album's most powerful moments.
When the band strays into more straightforward hardcore territory, the results aren't as positive. "Lay the Tarp", for example, begins with a bob-your-head groove that recurs throughout the song, no doubt inspiring testosterone-fueled circle pits whenever it's played live. Even though the song features plenty of the band's breakneck ferocity, it never quite overcomes its own hardcore leanings. "Antman" suffers a similar fate, but its high-pitched guitar harmonies and rhythmic guessing-game do keep it from coming across quite as tired. Kozowyk's voice is strong when he stays low and raspy, but when he switches to the spoken/shouted style, it loses so much of its power, going from merciless to meathead in the blink of an eye. Luckily, it's a style he uses very sparingly.
The album's most pleasant surprise is the instrumental closing track, "He Was Dead When I Got There". By grindcore standards, it's epic, clocking in at almost seven-and-a-half minutes. "He Was Dead When I Got There" extends from a long line of melodic thrash instrumentals, occupying the same realm as Metallica's "Orion" and Anthrax's "Intro to Reality". Nothing else on Clients comes close to this level of delicate musicianship. It's a fine end to a bludgeoning disc, and it proves that The Red Chord is a band that uses their talents to play intricate music at amazing speeds-- not one that uses amazing speeds to cover up a lack of talent.
