The Red Shore

The Avarice Of Man

Written by: PP on 15/09/2010 18:04:18

Aussie deathcore band The Red Shore deviate from their breakdown obsessed peers in two counts. One, they have progressive tendencies which allow many of their songs to grow beyond the destructive breakdowns into something more organic and natural, though not necessarily death metal. Two, they often engage in immense tech-metal passages that leave even bands like The Red Chord sounding simplistic in places. Perhaps this is why they often appeal beyond the genre boundaries to the death metal fans and, dare I say it, extreme metal fans on at least a couple of aspects, and less to the scenester crowd following Whitechapel, Oceano, Carnifex and so forth?

"The Avarice Of Man" is their sophomore effort. It largely picks off where "Unconsecrated" left off two years ago, improving the songwriting and memorability departments enough to enable the listener to start recognizing individual songs on the album. Previously, being a fan of The Red Shore meant to appreciate the holistic brutality and technically-oriented approach overall, whereas here, songs like "Human All Too Human" and particularly the title track, "The Avarice Of Man", appear to contain lengthy technical sections that awe the listener and also, for the first time in this band's history at least, chorus sections that allow for strange growl-alongs when necessary. As such, it feels like the guys in the band have matured and understood the beauty of writing something more than just technical leads. This is particularly evident in the breakdowns, which steer clear of the mindless chug-chug of most other deathcore bands. Instead, they are used to beef up the sound in the right places, hence my usage of the word organic earlier in the review. In a way, the evolution is similar to what Job For A Cowboy did between their first two albums, though The Red Shore are still residing deep in the deathcore genre as opposed to the modern death metal of the former band.

Another feature of "The Avarice Of Man" is that it is heavy. With the soundscape seemingly weighing several tonnes, the album is certainly not for the faint hearted, and absolutely not for the karate moshers. It's too technically and compositionally advanced for such mindless behaviour. But that said, even when The Red Shore are a notch or two better than so many other deathcore bands, they are still very much a deathcore band. So keep that in mind when checking these guys out.

7

Download: The Avarice Of Man, Human All Too Human
For the fans of: Thy Art Is Murder, Rose Funeral, The Boy Will Drown, Molotov Solution
Listen: Myspace

Release date 03.09.2010
Listenable Records

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