There’s a lyric in the song “Hour of Rats” from Fed Through the Teeth Machine, the album by The Red Chord, and this particular lyric has really taken hold in my brain as of late: “WE’VE KNOWN EACH OTHER TOO LONG TO BE FRIENDS.” What a simple, beautiful statement that I can 110% relate to these days. Hm.

Speaking of The Red Chord…

• We’re streaming The Red Chord’s new album, Fed Through the Teeth Machine, through Monday! It’s awesome, so definitely give it a listen, then go buy it when Metal Blade releases it on Tuesday, October 27! We also spoke to The Red Chord’s Mike “Gunface” McKenzie.
• We got a European tour wrap-up from Chimaira’s Mark Hunter, had a nice chat with Kowloon Walled City’s Jason Pace, and even played nice with Oceano’s Andrew Mikhail.
• Lord Gold from Horse the Band graced us with another awesome tour blog, Eyal discussed physical CDs, and Dallas explored the evolution and importance of deathcore.
• We checked out new releases from Converge, Ancestors, and Smite the Righteous.
• Janet Reno quit Attack Attack!
• We’re fairly certain that Dave Mustaine is still a Megadick. Actually, we’re positive.

Have a good weekend everyone…

-AR

In 2009, it seems the best way to make innovative death metal is to not employ slams. After the dozens of avenues the genre has gone down – melodic, brutal, blackened, thrashy, numerous combinations of those, and so on – old is new again, and after a few years of interchangeable breakdown-prone ‘core enthusiasts, death metal’s scraggly faithful are more interested in hearing the genre done well as opposed to yet another “What if we combined THIS with death metal?!” band. Of course, revisiting can lead to rehashing incredibly easily (see: thrash revival), and the best of those invested in the past know that there’s a certain energy that needs to be pumped into it in order to give it purpose. Smite the Righteous, a melodic death/thrash collective from Massachusetts, waver on the revisit-rehash line, stumbling onto either side throughout the course of their debut full length The Thirst for Violence. But in its best moments it displays a looseness and a vested interest sorely missing from death metal’s crop of regurgitaters. Though still rough around the edges, the band seem to get it a lot more than some.

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