EP: “Vol 002 – Mercy Flight” by Left For Red

There are only three tracks on the latest Left For Red offering, which is a follow up to “Vol 1 – Empty Shell”.

The band has been going since 2010, hail from the West Midlands and have earned praise from Kerrang! Magazine for their “loud and heavy” music. The first song on the EP, “Kneel Before You Die”, starts promisingly enough with a gradual lead-in to a solid metal performance. Vocalist LC’s stylings are not quite to my taste, although he hits some cracking notes at the end of the track, but overall “Kneel Before You Die” is a powerful and perfect opener to the EP.

Second track “My Obsession” starts off with a strong bass hook and morphs into what sounds like it’s going to be a full-on black metal treat, but as it fully kicks in, it sort of strikes me as a cross between the Deftones and Pantera. LC descends fully into screaming territory and he does it well. The track is slower than the other two but is perhaps more powerful due to the simple verses which build up to a big chorus each time. “I want you to bleed, I want you to cry, I want you to die”; these lyrics leave you in no doubt that this is not a happy track, coupled with the repetitive line of “Don’t fuck with me” at the end make it a searing, dark affair.

Final track “Mercy Flight” flies straight into a metal maelstrom, with an upbeat riff and some serious drumming. The whole thing reminds me of something or someone else, but I can’t quite put my finger on what or who it is.

I would have liked to have seen a couple more tracks as I don’t think three songs is enough to fully get what a band are about, but perhaps I’ll give “Empty Shell” a listen too. At the end of the day, if a band leaves you wanting to check out more of their music, then surely they’ve done what they set out to do? Left For Red supported heavy rockers Sacred Mother Tongue and Voodoo Six on one of their tour dates last year, and have also played with Breed 77 and Chimaira, so they have a pretty good metal pedigree.

You can catch Left For Red in March when they play several dates in March, including Wolverhampton and Nottingham.

Tracks
Kneel Before You Die
My Obsession
Mercy Flight

Links
http://www.leftforred.co.uk
http://www.reverbnation.com/leftforred
http://www.facebook.com/leftforreduk
http://www.myspace.com/leftforreduk

Words by Vikkie.