December in Red - The Way Out
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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The Way Out opens with "The Call," a brief and spacey industrial instrumental that sounds a bit otherworldly, as if "the call" in question is some sort of signal from one machine to another and quite possibly alien in origin. That's as far out as December in Red gets here though as the rest of the album is modern, metal-edged vocal rock that spotlights the guitar work of Dan Gardner, whose playing on cuts like "Arrested on Sight" gives the music a sinister overtone. Singer Del McGeachy on the other hand soars with melodic vocals throughout, even on the hard rocking thump-and-grind of "De D'Aur" and the driving "Pelican." Standout tracks include the single "Send Me a Postcard" and "Hadouken;" "Postcard" includes the lyric "Show me the way out" so it is in fact the album's title cut and, while that sentiment can apply to many a human situation, if you watch the song's video you'll see that it concerns a robot (maybe he's the one sending out the aforementioned "call"). "Hadouken" is a woozy, grinding rocker that is perhaps the album's hardest hitter that features guest vocals from Jahred of Hed PE. The most impressive thing about December in Red is that they don't just blast through everything; there are lots of little flavorings and effects all through the album, and the band sounds really good on the drone-with-piano instrumental "The Borders." A third instrumental called "The Fundamental," also featuring piano, utilizes cello to good effect too. The album closes with the sublime "Don't Look So Surprised" and that's a fitting comment to those who are just now finding out how good December in Red are.View "Send Me a Postcard" video here
Purchase The Way Out at iTunes here.
December in Red - The Way Out
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