“Breathe Into Me” by Red, Sunday, November 7, 2021
Red's debut album, End of Silence, comes in the middle of a maximalist orchestral rock era on the alternative/active rock stations. The lead single, "Breathe Into Me" is a heavily produced single that involves screaming, a Middle-eastern sounding guitar solo, and a string section that sounds like it's being tuned in on an FM radio. As novel as that sounds, a DJ today might be able to recreate that sound if he picked up a hundred other active rock records from 2003-2009. The sound effects and heavy guitars could be found on any Linkin Park record, the strings on an Evanescence record, the screaming on almost any other record. But in 2006, Red's End of Silence was a fun, aggressive radio-rock record, and I had every hope that they would go on to have a career of unique heavy music.
FALLING FASTER. Released the summer after I graduated from high school, I didn't really start listening to Red's debut record until the Fall, when I was driving to morning classes at community college. The misty September, October, and November mornings when the temperature started dropping and the sun started coming up later and later needed something aggressive to kick the coffee in tumbler into action. The album opens with an eerie introduction track which leads into "Breathe Into Me." The second track "Let Go" takes the screaming up a notch, as well as the rage. The album slows down from there. "Already Over" is a piano driven tune that begins with some distant-sounding, extremely produced screaming. It's not a calm, soothing piano ballad, but rather singer Michael Barnes sings passionately about surrender. The album is downhill from there. The band keeps their aesthetic of dark rock music but adds calmer tracks here and there. Some of the songs sound like they should be B-sides, others sound like worship tracks. "Breathe Into Me" was the first of more than 20 of the band's singles to top Christian Rock radio and it peaked at #15 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. They appeared on rock tours with Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin, whom Red's former guitarist Jasen Rauch would later join, as well Christian festivals and tours with Skillet and other hard Christian rock acts. I saw their 2010 sub-headlining spot at Asheville's The Orange Peel in 2010 along with headliner P.O.D. and opening acts Brian "Head" Welch of Korn fame's band Love and Death and Icon for Hire as well as at Ichthus and Cornerstone.
BREATHE YOUR LIFE INTO ME. These days, I'm not always in the mood for angry, aggressive music. I don't know when it happened. Maybe when I started listening to more pop music. I couldn't stick around with Red's career. However, they're still around with a million monthly Spotify listeners. It seems what has been Red's strong suit, which is why I've dropped off the Red bandwagon, is their consistency. Every Red album is stylized a certain way, from the cover art to the song composition. The band keeps a very serious demeanor in music videos, on stage, and in photographs. It kind of reminds me of what Ryan Clark said about the Demon Hunter image he has created, when he talked about Demon Hunter's image on the Labeled Podcast. Of course, Demon Hunter isn't the only hard rock/metal band create and stay on brand. Red's aesthetic includes a minimalist album cover, using two or three colors, usually red and black, except for 2013's Release the Panic, which was dark blue and black. The band has worked with producer Rob Graves on every album, except for Release the Panic and this consistency makes most of the albums sound the same. There's usually something unique about each album, but their sophomore album sounded exactly like weaker moments on their debut record. Their third record tightened up the dirtier screaming vocals. Release the Panic, though working with a different producer, Howard Benson, offered very little new to the band's sound. Of Beauty and Rage was lyrically their darkest, even making Plugged In concerned about the content. It's always fun to read a negative Christian Rock review from Plugged In. Gone was an experiment with electronic sounds. Their most recent album Declaration sounds just like the same band we've heard before. "Breathe Into Me" is a nice throwback track for a time when I liked this kind of music a lot. Today, it's more about nostalgia. I might find myself listening to a Red track here or there when I want to be angry. But it's not really what I want to do these days.
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