Review of The Red Shore - Unconsecrated

Here’s another late 2009 release that is worth your while even if you can look past the fact that the moniker, label, logo, cover art and band’s looks scream Hot Topic deathcore.

The fact is though, Australia’s The Red Shore, despite all the above going against them they are more along the lines of As You Drown, And Hell Followed With and label mates Those Who Lie Beneath in so much they deliver modern tech death metal with a slight deathcore lean, and while the land of Oz has some solid death metal/deathcore (Gallows Grace, Thy Art is Murder), this might be the heaviest thing to come out of Australia since…… er … Psycroptic?

Even with a choppy tech backbone and ultra beefy tone that reminded me of Decapitated, The Red Shore, like acts like The Faceless, and now defunct country mates Hiroshima Will Burn, is one of those bands many will dismiss as jumbled, tech death wanna be deathcore. However, even the most jaded metal heads will be hard to pressed to pass off the sheer heft and savagery of the likes of “The Garden of Impurity”, “Misery Hymn”, murderously heavy “The Architects of Repulsion” and as they forgo any sort of melody or atmosphere in favor of unadulterated brutality. No synths, no arpeggios, just overbearing, pummeling heaviness and occasional huge groove (“Deception:Prologue”, “Your Chariot Awaits”) rendered with a guitar tone that might be responsible for the Haiti earthquakes (too soon?). Only “Nephillim” offers a short instrumental respite before its blown away by closer “Vehemence of the Phoenix”.

Now, that all being said, this US/Rise Records release of Unconsecrated comes with a bonus album called Lost Verses, which feature the band’s 2006 Salvaging What’s Left EP as well as recorded demo tracks. And  these tracks, despite being basically a free album for the price of one, unfortunately shows the band’s much more distinct and trendy deathcore/blackcore leanings, including synths and lots of typical breakdowns. It’s not bad and still fierce and technical, and fans of Winds of Plague, Born of Osiris, or The Crimson Armada might even find tracks like “The St Valentine Day Massacre”, “Knives and Wolves” ,“Pulling Teeth” and “Thy Devourer” a real treat.

Still, you basically get over 60 minutes of music and two full albums on this version of Unconsecrated, and the first 9 alone make this a worthwhile purchase for open minded fans of uncompromising heaviness.