Red Theory
Self Titled
3.1
Well well. The winning streak comes to a screeching halt. This is what we call here at Metal Review, "Taking one for the team". It could be worse......but man, it could be alot better.
I'll give 'em credit for wearing their influences on their sleeves, but that's where the pity points stop. They cite Sevendust, Deftones, Alice In Chains, Mudvayne, etc. as their motives, and well, who better to warn you then the band themselves? Throw some Godsmack and bad white-boy rapping ala Limp Bizkit in there, and you have a recipe for feces. This is an attempt to 1998 you into a frenzy, and while I was touched by its sentimental value as I was whisked away back to a time long ago when you took it for what it was, I still gotta put it out there that this is pretty badly done suburban nu-metal revivalism. The only positive spin I can put on this, is that at least these four can stay in time with each other. That's about it though. The production is on par with average demo quality (reverb does not make bad music sound good). The playing is stiff and uninspired. There just might be a light at the end of the tunnel for the singer if he could shelf the Sully Erna and Fred Durst bits. If as a collective they widened their horizons they'd have a shot in a few years, because currently their portfolio reeks of stale music industry from ten years back. The world is weird in such a way that there's probably still some sort of fanbase out there in limbo, caught in the sub-urban void between driveway basketball courts and backyard water parks that would just eat this shit up. If you have a Stained back-patch, then you can come in, you've come to the right place. Seriously, if Red Theory released this back in the day, they would have assured themselves a major label record deal, with slots on the first Family Values tour and the Billboard top 100 soon to follow. Sucks to be them now.
I've said before that I rate for the genre, and this genre has no business still existing. Nothing personal to the Red Theory players, I'm sure you're all great fellows, but i can't spend any more time on this. I'm out.
Better never than late.
