Raise the Red Lantern Raise the Red Lantern
by Trevor Portz
Staff Writer
There’s nothing wrong with stoner-style, extended jamming. Hordes of ‘70s bands did it, Phish fans can’t get enough of it, and every new band probably tries their hand at a little freestyling, even if just for fun. The one major problem facing would-be jammers, however, is the need to keep things interesting and exciting for the length of the jam. Unfortunately, the members of Raise the Red Lantern seem more concerned with length, and less with how to use it.
Taking a large cue from Kyuss, and mixing it up with metalcore vocals, the result is a set of detuned, distortion-fueled stoner grooves topped with angry, screechy howling. Not a terrible idea by any stretch, but Raise the Red Lantern fall flat and fail to live up to the potential of what they have tried to create.
Repetition seems to be the name of the game here, with most songs becoming no more than monotonous onslaughts of sameness, a far cry from those the band seems to take influence from. The abrasive vocals mostly manage only to distract from the underlying guitars, and though this helps to break up the general monotony, they often overpower all of the instrumentation, leaving it as nothing more than low-end background noise.
Another distraction that serves to hinder rather than help the band comes from the all-over-the-place tempo ramblings of drummer Jim Staffel, also of Chicago avant-garde metal band Yakuza. Coming from such a respected band, and knowing what he has done in the past, it seems surprising that the drumming would be any sort of negative aspect. At first, it seems possible to chock it up to experimental, progressive tempo fiddling, but upon further inspection, it is nothing more than poor rhythm. Perhaps in this setting, a click track—something generally forbidden to jazz drummers—would have helped immensely and kept everything in line. But as it stands, the constant acceleration and deceleration feel very amateur.
But perhaps the biggest issue facing the band comes from the frequent, extended jams that feature in virtually every track. Rather than taking the listener on a musical journey of emotion and melody, the jams contained herein showcase nothing more than endless repetition of the same riffs. In fact, on opening track, “Ritual in Cm,” the riff is played so many times that by the end one of the guitars appears to go slightly out of tune. Midway through “Wilde Stallion,” the band presents one of it’s best riffs—a uniquely melodic break—but they manage to play it so many times that by the end it feels like a trip on the “It’s a Small World” ride, leaving the listener hoping it will soon be over.
With all this negativity, it should be said that the album is not without its merits. The riffs in and of themselves are not bad, and in many cases are very heavy and well written. By trimming down the repetition and focusing on tighter, more versatile song structures, Raise the Red Lantern would be in a better position to earn the respect they very well may deserve. Of course, if the jamming is a necessity and a defining part of the band’s style, then the members would do well to mix things up and add a bit of variety, be it in the form of solos, intentional tempo changes, or just more rapid-fire riff development. But who knows, maybe the repetitiveness is what will make Raise the Red Lantern famous. It worked for “99 Bottles of Beer” after all, and who doesn’t take their turn at that song every once in a while?
Label: At A Loss
Web: www.myspace.com/raisetheredlantern
Band Lineup: Dylan, Craig, Kris, Jim
Tracks:
1. Ritual
2. Thick As Thieves
3. Awaken
4. Oracle
5. Deliver Us/Deliverance
6. No Man’s Land
7. Wilde Stallion
8. Seduction Of Slumber
Hardrock Haven rating 4.4/10