Clients

Album Review

People who dislike metal in general insist that all metal is nothing more than noise pollution for restless adolescent males, but anyone who makes that claim is seriously uninformed. There are many different types of metal, just as there are many different types of jazz, blues, country, and hip-hop — and metal has had numerous artists who, for all their intensity and aggression, can be highly musical, melodic, and intricate. That is true of everyone from Iron Maiden to Metallica to Neurosis, and even some of the bands in the death metal/black metal field are relatively melodic (namely, the bands that identify themselves as "melodic death metal" or "symphonic black metal"). But metal does have its lunatic fringe, which is where you will find the totally ferocious sounds of Red Chord. Clients, the Massachusetts residents' second album, doesn't pretend to be the least bit subtle. Combining the grindcore style of death metal with metalcore, Clients is a sledgehammer of a CD — a nasty, harsh, truly unforgiving effort that goes for the jugular and makes no bones about it. Between Guy Kozowyk's lead vocals (which combine death metal's guttural growl with metalcore-style screaming), Red Chord's use of maximum density, and their frequent tempo changes (which are done in a very nervous, spastic way), makes Clients an exercise in sensory assault for the sake of sensory assault. Albums this extreme aren't for everyone; this type of over-the-top metal is — like free jazz, dancehall, and techno/rave music — very much an acquired taste. But those who do have a taste for extreme metal will find Clients to be brutally exhilarating and, by extreme metal standards, a great success for this New England combo.