Recording your album with the not-cheap Brian McTernan and then releasing it as a download for just $1 (65p-ish) is either marketing genius or the actions of an absolute fucking madman. Either way, until October 19, 2009 you can get this album for about the same price as a bar of chocolate. There’s absolutely no excuse not to check it out – whether it will work and gain the band thousands of new fans or ultimately bankrupt them is an argument for another day (or my blog, if I can be arsed).
Flood of Red hail from Scotland but have a very polished American sound. Over the years they’ve mellowed very slightly and there’s certainly more singing now than there was on the previous albums. ‘Leaving Everything Behind’ is expertly put together and sounds so slick and professional. The good tracks are very, very good indeed and put their US brothers to shame, but I do feel this is about three or four songs too long and would have been better served as a mini-album. Still, if you like Circa Survive and latter day Thrice this record is an absolute must listen. The album gets off to a wishy-washy start and for me ‘A Place Before The End’ is where it really starts; a song that’s interesting and catchy, the first real melodic moment on the album and the first track that really stands out. The vocals are excellent throughout, distinctive and almost whispery in delivery. ‘The Heartless and Loving’ and ‘Paper Lungs’ are excellent too, the former especially. It sounds absolutely massive.
My only real negative is that a few of the songs are a bit boring and samey – the band have clearly worked out what their sound is and the slower more atmospheric tracks certainly drag a little. But then for $1 what do you expect? You can just delete those songs and listen to the good ones!
Flood of Red will undoubtedly get more than a few column inches by such a clever publicity stunt. Pricing this album at such a low price will attract new fans and hopefully word will spread. ‘Leaving Everything Behind’ is a good record. In places it’s a very good record. It does have a few weaker songs and a couple are on the dull side, but the better songs make this astounding value for money. Check it out and you might be surprised.