Tags: Dark City, Flood Of Red, Leaving Everything Behind

Flood Of Red: new heroes of British post-hardcore or whiney emo bitches? Yesterday, this reviewer would have plumped for the latter, but a second play through of the Airdrie sextet’s debut album ‘Leaving Everything Behind’ makes me glad that I hung fire. The main problem that my past, admittedly rather dickish, self had with the album still remains – there’s simply not enough variation between songs to sustain interest throughout all its 14 tracks. I may have the attention span of a 12-year-old mainlining Sunny D, but about five songs in I switched off mentally and just let Flood Of Red’s dense sound wash over me like waves of lukewarm porridge. Emo-charged lines like “I’m a candle that’s blown out” and “I’m so scared about everything” would occasionally elicit a hollow groan, but generally I was happy to let Flood Of Red bash away in the background while I surfed 4chan to find out what the basement dwelling wretches of |B| were up to.

So how come ‘Leaving Everything Behind’ sounds so very different today? This is what it’s like to stare at one of those magic eye pictures for hours and then suddenly see the God damn sailboat. Why did I not appreciate lead vocalist Jordan Speirs’ delicate delivery, contrasting the group’s heavy instrumentals? How nice is it that he sings with a Scottish accent rather than those annoyingly ersatz Mid-Atlantic tones some bands affect? And while there might not be enough variation between tunes, there is movement enough within them – the epitome of this being ‘Like Elephants’, which restarts three quarters of the way in with a solo piano before building up to great heights. Tricks like this help keep things fresh; I would still argue that ‘Leaving Everything Behind’ is too homogenous for anyone but a true fan to really relish listening to it in one sitting, but taken individually tunes such as ‘The Harmony’, ‘A Place Before The End’, ‘I Will Not Change’ and ‘Losing All Balance In Fells Point’ are pretty fine. This reviewer also found his battered old heart strings tugged by ‘Little Lovers’, which is likely not the majority view but this ain’t no steenkin’ democracy.

Oh, and just so you know, “I’m a candle that’s blown out” and ‘I’m so scared about everything” both appear in songs that I now rather adore. Dear Flood Of Red, sorry I was a hater – maybe when I listen to ‘Leaving Everything Behind’ for a third time I’ll return and bump the score up by yet another star…

Related Reviews:

1. Flood Of Red- ‘Home Run, 1997′
2. Flood Of Red Tour UK
3. Flood Of Red- ‘Home, Run (1997)’ New Video
4. The Flood Of Red- ‘A Place Before The End’
5. The X EP – Sebrok