Red-Eyed Legends - The High I Feel When I'm Low / 6 Tracks / 2004 Gold Standard Laboratories / http://www.goldstandardlabs.com / Released 9 February 2004 / Reviewed 21 March 2004
Coming out of a rock background, this supergroup (consisting of members from Circus Lupus, Monorchid, Skull Control, Evil Three, Countdown, and Cinco De Gatos), is really too apathetic to go and fit into any one specific genre of music. Heavily influenced by the strong guitar licks of Tommy Iommi and the Batman TV theme song, The Red-Eyed Legends go somewhere different each time. Having two mixes of the same song starting out a CD is a dangerous move, as it really creates an impetus for the listener to get bored with the CD. However, the two versions of "Hamlicious" are differently mixed enough to really get individuals attention - the super indoor version stretches out the first version of the track, and adds a roughness to it that really isn't nodded to in the first version. With vocals that are like the first British wave of punk music, the Red-Eyyed Legends could not have picked a more fitting set of backing instrumnts; the sloppily played guitar and splashing drums along with the vocals create an atmosphere.
However, nothing really on "Low" strikes me as innovative. The band seems to be in a rut int hir music, blasting through each of the tracks without feeling what they are doing. There is a certain disconnected nature to the disc that makes it hard for me to imagine the band live in my head - more computer than human, but something like the title track does a lot during the wank-laded guitar entrance to dispel that feeling. Chris' lyrics during the title track are par for the course, but the recording on this song, as well as more generally through the rest of the CD, leaves me cold as it separates each individual instrument instead of trying to make a more cohesive sound.
The major issue with he disc is the sloppiness with which ever instrument is played; this, even with the desire to separate each of the instrument, creates a muddled-up environment in which intentions are obscured to the length that listeners wont be able to know what the band is trying to do. Some sequences in the music, especially the guitar duet during "Red Moustache." seems almost tacked onto an already-complete track. "That Other Bastard" shows Red-Eyed Legends at their lowest; trying to ride the success of the new-rock bands from NYC and Detroit (White Stripes, Strokes) in a track that fall on its ass just as its ideological father, Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl' did late last year.
Top Track: Hamlicus (Super indoor version)
Rating: 5.1/10