Unconsecrated

A lot of people when they think of how wild and technical guitarists can get with deathcore, most people will probably think of either Rings of Saturn or Infant Annihilator. Sure both bands are good in their own right, but when it comes to Australia's very own The Red Shore, these guys were absolutely and without a doubt ahead of their time. The Red Shore is probably one of the most criminally underrated deathcore bands and it's almost surprising considering they were signed to one of the biggest modern metal and rock labels of the early 2000's, that being Rise Records. Rise signing this band was definitely no mistake, and to this day Unconsecrated is probably the HEAVIEST release to come out on the label if you're counting the DVD re-release.

The sound of this album is unlike anything to come out at the time. The technical guitar work employed by Roman Koester does not let up throughout the entire album. Right from the start on the track The Garden of Impurity you're hit in the face with these Decapitated style technical leads that don't let up throughout the song apart from the slight breakdown halfway through. Stuff like this comes up a lot as a matter of fact. This album SCREAMS early Decapitated, but with a few breakdowns here and there. The next song as well right off the bat has a breakdown that has little peppering's of technical noodling that transition into another breakdown of it's caliber but with less technical noodling and continues for the rest of the track. It's absolutely pummeling and still keeps the writing interesting, especially after the solo.

This does kind of make the album feel less deathcore overall though. It's clear that they very much enjoy standard and technical forms of death metal as opposed to deathcore, because save for Misery Hymn the breakdowns are very few and far between and instead you're getting nothing but riffs upon riffs upon riffs. The smash hit of this album "Vehemence the Phoenix" is one of the best examples of this. Barely a breakdown and all you get are gnarly ass riffs. Absolutely WILD considering this song got a music video posted to Rise Records' own YouTube channel.

Jamie Hope of I Killed The Prom Queen fame was an absolute beast on this record when it came to vocal ability. You'll probably never hear him get this good again because his album with Prom Queen is very rough vocally. His lows are crushing and brutal and definitely more death metal leaning considering he was a scene kid when this album was released. His highs are definitely more in the deathcore stylings, but it's definitely awesome to hear such a contrast like this for a record of it's caliber.

The production and everything overall is top notch. Like I said, this album is extremely reminiscent of early Decapitated and the production is definitely of note when it comes to that comparison. It's raw, it's not overproduced to high heaven, and it just absolutely crushes. I really have no gripes with this record as a whole because it's just some solid ass technical death metal with a few breakdowns here and there. Could get slightly repetitive sure, but it's overall just such a hard hitting listen from front to back.

Absolutely no mercy! What an incredible album!

Final score: 99/100

Just the other day I was trying to listen to some deathcore bands, just for the sake of variety as I had been listening to a lot of pure death metal lately. I tried, I honestly tried. I tried to listen to BMTH and Waking the Cadaver, but I failed completely and was left with a strange mix of emotions. I was amused, confused, angered but just confused for the most part. I'm not an 'elitist' (a stupid word, if you ask me) by any means - I enjoy Trivium, Lamb of God, Shadows Fall etc. just as much as Obituary, Internal Suffering or Beheaded – but I was convinced that this deathcore genre was a complete abomination. Then I came across The Red Shore, a band which I had listened to briefly before but never managed to grab my attention. This time around, they did.

Once you get the hang of this album (which happens to be their debut album), it's quite fun. It's focused, it's fun and uncompromisingly brutal in its approach. The Red Shore fuse elements of deathcore with technical death metal, and the result is staggering. The technical death metal/deathcore tag may bring The Faceless to mind, but The Red Shore are completely different. This album is almost stripped bare of any sort of melody or atmosphere, and the occasional guitar solos are turned into the only outlet for melody, which contrasts extremely well with the violent approach that prevails throughout the album. Despite the single minded approach, everything is tight musically and every member of the band confidently does his job... simply put, there is a sense of harmony here, unlike most deathcore bands who feel as if they're just hammering away on their instruments without a sense of purpose.

The guitar-work is top notch, and the guitarists display an amazing arsenal of riffs, from razor-sharp tremolo riffs that cut through your skin to blunt Gorguts inspired riffs that never cease to amaze me. The drummer does a good job too - constantly hammering away, constantly changing rhythm and giving the music a nice groovy touch. Vocals? Excellent. I've never heard better vocals on a deathcore, or technical death metal album for that matter. The vocals are mostly in the low range and are pretty guttural AND clear. The guy has a nice sarcastic touch to his voice, the type of childish sarcasm usually associated with legit psychopaths and serial killers.

The breakdowns here are pretty fun. They're traditional chugga-chugga fare just like other deathcore bands, but unlike (the band's closest comparison) The Faceless, the breakdowns aren't neatly hidden underneath guitar solos. The breakdowns aren't all over the place, they're actually well placed and come in at the right time and you'd have to be nailed on a wall to stop yourself from headbanging and whatnot during these breakdowns.

This is a very good album and even if you dislike deathcore or metalcore, I'd still suggest you give this a try. The only flaw here which I can find is that at times this isn't as good as it should have been and is just uninteresting. Best track? The first two.

(originally written for archaic-magazine.com)