Track Listing

1. Film Critiques And Militia Men
2. Dread Prevailed
3. It Runs In The Family
4. Send The Death Storm
5. Pray For Eyes
6. Responsibilities
7. Midas Touch
8. Tread On The Neck Of Kings
9. It Came From Over There
10. Intelligence Has Been Compromised
11. Open Eyed Beast Attack
12. Birdbath
13. Bone Needle
14. Seminar

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #148490 in Music
• Released on: 2007-07-24
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
THE RED CHORD made a giant leap from their debut release Fused Together in Revolving Doors to 2005’s Clients, a leap that found the band moving from tiny clubs to the world’s biggest metal stage as part of OZZFEST 2006. Fortunately the change in venue has not changed THE RED CHORD’s core ethos of creating a highly disturbing, thought provoking grind/metal hybrid. Prey For Eyes pick ups where Clients left off, taking the bands brand on sonic mayhem to another level. However, unlike the Clients, Prey for Eyes is not a concept album. Inspired by actual people, events, dreams, books and loads of random thoughts, Prey for Eyes lyrically contains more twists, and turns all over the map, loaded with more imagination and curveballs than you can shake a stick at. Also unlike the two previous records, Prey for Eyes focuses far less on the negative aspects of everything and is an emotional, bipolar rollercoaster of double and triple meanings in every song, meant to provoke thoughts and free thinking. To that end, THE RED CHORD vocalist GUY KOZOWYK lends some insight to the title track, Inspired by events where my brother, who is a prison guard, walks in on an inmate doing something ridiculous in his cell. The prisoner won’t talk and gets into this dialogue via a notepad. After documenting that he can no longer talk because the devil has removed his tongue, my brother checks the cons mouth with his flashlight. When he tells him that his tongue is definitely in tact, the inmate replies with the cryptic message Pray for Eyes.

About the Artist
The Red Chord engages a sensory onslaught with their new Metal Blade Release Prey for Eyes. A sprawling enigma, the album traverses nightmarish soundscapes with mind-bending time changes, gnashing guitars and schizophrenic vocals. Guitarist Mike "Gunface" Mckenzie couples bludgeoning riffs with haunting chord passages. Brad Fickeisen furiously propels the tracks with demonic double bass drumming as Greg Weeks bolts down a rhythmic freight train. Vocalist Guy Kozowyk is the ringmaster of this sonic horror show. His lyrics delve into the psyches of insane inmates, anarchist recluses and gods with a vengeance for pop music. This is dangerous and thought provoking music that transcends genres. This is Prey for Eyes.

The Red Chord have been crafting intriguing heavy music since their independent debut Fused Together in Revolving Doors in 2002. Combining elements of grindcore, death metal and hardcore, that release established them as one of the premier Massachusetts extreme metal acts. In 2005, Metal Blade released the follow-up Clients, a tortured concept album about mental patients, drug addicts, the homeless and the desperate and downtrodden. While they decimated crowds worldwide touring with the likes of Gwar, High On Fire, Between the Buried and Me, Unearth, Every Time I Die and Hatebreed, as well as stints on OZZfest 2006 and Sounds of the Underground 2005, "Clients" established The Red Chord as innovators in the burgeoning underground metal scene by staying away from the cliché trappings that crippled some of their contemporaries.

In early 2007, the band began constructing Prey for Eyes with producer and engineer Eric Rachel (The Black Dahlia Murder, Atreyu) at Trax East. The record is an immense evolution from Clients. Guy states, "Every song on the new album, for the most part, is a sketch of something that could probably take twenty minutes to explain. It's similar to Clients since every song has a backbone that could've been a story. However, Clients was based on this closed environment where I was working. While writing this album, I was all over the world meeting people. So Prey for Eyes is based on dreams, conversations, books, random instances and occurrences. There was also a lot of different ground that I wanted to cover in terms of these weird, trippy dreamscapes and real crazy shit I've thought of for a long time." In order to tell these tales, Guy has also fine-tuned his voice like a weapon, destroying with an intelligible, distinct scream.

Heightening the dynamics of the record, Nate Newton from Converge guests on "Tread on the Necks of Kings" and "Responsibles", while Jonny Davy of Job For A Cowboy adds a distinct vocal madness to "Pray for Eyes" and "Prevailed." The guest appearances create a deadly vocal diversity, which compliments the intense fret work. Guy continues, "We have a lot of mechanical changes, but Gunface was definitely hell-bent on throwing in these melodic soulful parts. The riffs can be incredibly abrasive and frightening, but they also have emotion, personality, soul and feel as well." Add to that the intricate cover and packaging layout by Paul Romano (Mastodon, Chiodos, Through The Eyes of The Dead), and The Red Chord have a dangerous new record on their hands.

Ultimately, the stories remain central to Prey for Eyes. "I don't want this to be one of those bands that will just be forgotten. I feel like I'm a writer before a vocalist. My writing has always been pretty solid. With this genre, there's a lot of repetitive themes and material. I wanted to really break the mold on that. I just want this band to stand out and do something different, and I feel like we achieved that." BY RICK FLORINO

Customer Reviews

Furious, Intelligent Death/Tech Metal
This is my first experience with The Red Chord, which I decided to pick up on a whim at the local record store. After a couple of spins (back to back, I might add), I am definately a fan.

The Red Chord play a very fast and agressive technical style of metal with "death" style vocals, and intense, hyper-busy drumming (of course). What sets this band apart for me, however, is the interesting (and disturbing) concept of the album itself; seemingly the story of a former politician's descent into guilt-ridden paranoia, delusions and madness- as well as the sheer intensity and experimentation of the music. The guitar and bass are a rapid-fire barrage; constantly either morphing into another cool, technical and odd-metered riff or stopping on a dime to do something completely unexpected. I'm definately interested in hearing more of this band....highly recommended for any fan of intense and intelligent modern metal.

Brutality cranked to 11
The Red Chord never disappoints with their releases. Every album keeps getting more defined, dynamic and brutal. Not many bands can pull off this type of music and at the same time keep it all coherent and able to keep you interested. I noticed there is a lot more groove to this album than previous ones which is very welcome. It doesn't feel contrived either, it's all feeling. In the end all the pieces fit and you understand exactly what The Red Chord was going for when they wrote this disc. They not only meet expectations, they shatter and surpass them.

The Red Chord Can Do No Wrong
The Red Chord is no doubt one of the most fresh, original, creative and fun bands to come out in the 2000's. Their 2002 full-length, "Fused Together In Revolving Doors", was an excellent hybrid of death metal, technical metal, metalcore and even elements of jazz in it. 3 years later, they are signed to Metal Blade and release "Clients", which was steering more towards a metal direction and not as chaotic, but still retained their sound. Now, we have their third album, "Prey For Eyes", and the word "excellent" is an understatement.

"Prey For Eyes" is an album that refuses to follow the stereotypical way that most death metal and deathcore bands and instead creates its own sound. The songs are unpredictable and surprising, with heavy riffs during one minute, and a technical jam session during the next. The songwriting this band utilizes is excellent and memorable. Guy Kozowyk's vocals are still chaotic and mind-scrambling.

Overall, we have another well-performed, diverse, original album by The Red Chord. There is no doubt that if the band keeps making albums like this, they will have their respect by the extreme music fans and be remembered for their wonderful style of music they played over the years. Highly recommended.