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The Red Chord
Fed Through The Teeth Machine
(Metal Blade)

In the wake of so much pretty, prissy, and probably well-pedicured heavy music, this record sticks out like a black and broken sore thumb. Ok, so The Red Chord have never made for slick and easy listening but album number four, Fed Through The Teeth Machine, is a whole new level of hate, hurt and rage twisted into song. This is a record wrought with sick-sounding riffs, off-kilter rhythms riding up against calculated robotic pummelling, angry static and feral, man-on-the-edge screams. Fans of Bullet For My Valentine need not apply.

Opener Demoralizer sets the scene superbly, a sub three-minute shredfest powered by blast-furnace guitars, battering drums, brutality, brains, and, believe it or not, just a little twisted beauty too. Hymns… keeps things going at hyper speed, drummer Brad Fickeisen doing truly jaw-dropping things with his kit, Floating Through The Vein features guitars that wail and scream like victims in the latest instalment of Saw, and Face Area Solution could turn the tables and be used as torture device.

For all the extremes and aural violence here though, this is a better, more involving ride than 07’s Prey For Eyes. Where that record felt cold and distant and maybe a tad one-dimensional, here there are depths, twists and turns that demand (and heartily reward) repeated listens. Hour Of Rats is packed with layers that the Dillinger Escape Plan boys would be proud to produce, Ingest The Ash would be a shoe-in for the next Guitar Hero game were it not guaranteed to give everyone content to click along to Weezer and the Beatles the worst headache of their lives, and if you can pick apart the intricacies of Sleepless Nights In The Compound first time round you’re smarter than anyone at Planet Loud. Brilliant, belligerent, bitter and then some. - Rating [9]

Release Date - 26 October 2009

Reviewed by Simon T.Diplock

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