reviews

Red Tape - Radioactivist

posted by: David on 13 January 2004

This Californian outfit came out of the blue and scored a record deal with Roadrunner. Made me curious about this band, because they exist for five years now and I never even heard their name. So let�s see what those A&R managers at Roadrunner thought was so special about Red Tape. Well, roughly this band plays two musical styles. Half of this album consists of fast old school hardcore songs, that have a lot of power and remind me of the good old eighties hardcore sound. The band themselves call it thrash-punk, like the early hardcore bands played it. The other half of this record is built on punky hardcore tracks, that have a very progressive Snapcase/Refused feel to them. When you listen to the songs on �Radioactive� separately there�s no problem, they all sound cool. But when you hear them all together there�s a lack of cohesion. It�s like these guys aren�t sure which style they prefer. On the other hand, some people like to listen to different styles, so they might love Red Tape. But my advice to this band is: make up you mind! Choose your musical direction and make your next release sound more solid. This is not a bad record, but it could be so much better.

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