CoC : The Red Chord - Clients : Review

The Red Chord - _Clients_
(Metal Blade, 2005)
by: Jackie Smit (9.5 out of 10)

Someone needed to make a record like this, that much I'm certain of. With Burnt by the Sun in tatters and recent Converge efforts reeking more and more of dank urine, metalcore -- real metalcore, as opposed to the saccharine-sweet sniveling of Shadows Fall and Trivium -- needed a savior. Several acts stepped up to the plate, but even the bravest attempts from the likes of Unearth and The Black Dahlia Murder proved to be in vain. Then came _Clients_ -- the sophomore album from a little-known Massachusetts quintet known as The Red Chord. To do them justice with a written description would entail several pages worth of expletive-heavy analysis, but think Cryptopsy, Lamb of God and BbtS thrown into a barbed-wire mesh and delivered with the sort of jagged-edged aggression that made you smile from ear to ear when you first heard _Vulgar Display of Power_, and you're starting to get the picture. There are no radio-friendly choruses here. There's no obligatory beatdowns. And there are absolutely no references to anything remotely Swedish at any point during the course of the record. The Red Chord is nasty, violent and incredibly dynamic; constantly coming from all directions with spastic pattern shifts that recall everything from death metal to grindcore to jazz. As such, _Clients_ is also a record that will not get any prime-time airplay on MTV, nor will their merchandise become a calling card for gawky fourteen year old boys. Instead, this is an album for everyone who thought that _The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good_ was the most refreshing sound to grace 2003, with the volume cranked way, way up.

Contact: http://www.metalblade.com

(article published 31/5/2005)

ALBUMS
4/1/2010	J Smit	9	The Red Chord - Fed Through the Teeth Machine
27/7/2007	J Smit	9	The Red Chord - Prey for Eyes