It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since Left For Red first emerged, to general acclaim, and began to decimate stages everywhere around the Midlands. A band who have developed organically in the intervening years, deftly balancing the necessary commitments of life with the dedication necessary for any growing act, Left For Red have made the most of their opportunities, evolving their style to deliver a deeply satisfying album in The Human Complex.
Opening on an unexpectedly downbeat note, the hallucinatory Dancing with Misery is a minor key exploration of darkness based around lysergic drums and reverb-washed guitars. It’s an unexpected start to the album, and a sign that the band are intent on taking the listener on a journey that incorporates echoing samples and piano, although you can be sure that the riffs aren’t far behind… Indeed, Switchblade Romance sees the band put their collective pedal to the metal, with a thunderous, churning riff, although a strange vocal effect gives the track a strangely claustrophobic feel that doesn’t fully dissipate until the chorus arrives to leaven the weight. Stoner grooves abound on the stuttering Slaves to causality whilst the clean vocal works particularly well here, giving the piece a melodicism that winds neatly between the stabbing riffs and throbbing bass. It’s an interesting, well-developed song that will undoubtedly slot nicely into the band’s explosive live set. It gives way to Leech, the riff of which, strangely, recalls nothing so much as Marilyn Manson with its regimented chug. An album highlight, The Circus, with its riffing on childhood nursery rhymes, manages to neatly combine the familiar and the new for a track that operates on a similar psychological level to Korn’s shoots and ladders but with a better grasp of melody.
Opening the second half of the album is another particularly strong song – the Metallica-sized hand of god, which sees the vocals spiral out of control over chunky riffs that hit home with real force. Despite a title that promises ferocity, The Storm edges into Katatonia territory with post-rock guitar work, harmonised vocals and a sense of restraint that stands very much to the band’s credit. Such light and shade only helps to emphasise the power the band can bring to bear when they so choose; as they do on the high-octane rock of Journey within – a track with overtones of Load-era Metallica, albeit with a progressive edge represented in the vocal delivery and winding guitars. Things get heavier still on tame the tides a stabbing, slightly schizophrenic track that slithers between the throat-ripping vocals of the verse and the Maiden-esque cleans of the chorus. It leaves sunrise bring serenity to bring the album to a surprisingly sensitive close, those vocal harmonies once more very much to the fore…
A strong album, The Human Complex, is the evolutionary step that Left For Red needed to take to step out in front of their peers. Although it is arguable that the production, in places, hasn’t quite caught up with the band’s ambitions, the album is a strong reassertion of the band’s many skills and there is no question that the song-writing has hit a new peak, particularly on tracks such as the circus and the storm. There’s a sense of increased confidence about the album that has clearly come from the relentless live work in which Left for Red have engaged and the record is set to assure the band’s future. 8.5
