Are you ready for the revolution? How about a Red Fist Revolution? Industrial metal fans have a new cause to join.

Title: The Fall of Goliath
Artist:  Red Fist Revolution (redfistrevolution.com)
Label: Youngside Records
Time: 14 tracks/40:06 min.

I was initially a bit worried about listening to the debut album by Red Fist Revolution. The liner notes to The Fall of Goliath point out that this album was recorded (mostly) by one person on their computer. One thing that we all remember from MySpace is that 90% of these one person projects should have stayed on the computer they were recorded on. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Red Fist Revolution does not fall into that category.

While not a perfect album, I do find the thematic ideas well executed and the song writing catchy. In the broadest sense this is industrial metal with a healthy dose of modern heavy influences thrown in.  There is a good balance of variety from song to song - some songs are very sparse and open, some are full and brimming with all kinds of sounds. I tend to get a little tired of industrial albums that fill every song with as many instruments as they can (just because they can), but when used correctly the “wall of industrial tracks” sound can work.  For the most part, it works on this CD. But there are also some places I would have liked to hear a few more guitar tracks to beef up the distortion some… really just a minor observation that doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of the album.

Sandwiched in-between rocking tracks like “The Bomb” and “Class War” are trippy electronic/guitar mash-up compositions like “30 Pieces.” You also have acoustic--or acoustic-ish--tracks like “Marching To Valhalla” and “Working Class Automaton” thrown in the mix for a good eclectic listen from start to finish.

The entire album actually works together to tell a story, a rock opera of sorts. The band’s website goes into more details about the story, but also mentions a possible tour being planned behind this album. I would be really interested to see how the visual aspect of this album is realized on stage – it is sure to be entertaining.

By Matt Crosslin (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)