As a quick overview of the band, DISEASE have been in the game for 26 years and counting. It is their take that they have learned especially how music can tell important life stories and be testimony of those who collect it in their songs. This offering will make their fourth full-length release in the metal world and follows a compilation release of "Millenial Anthems" just last year. Keeping a busy schedule is essential, and we get to break down the new material here.

I think going in any order is acceptable, so the hard hitting and bright "Lucid Hallucination" is first on the table. Crystal clear vocals accompany an experience of pure metal chaos in this track. It's difficult to nail down if the musical chaos is focused on any single aspect, be it the drums (primal and very wide in the mix) or the guitars (jumpy and overdriven to the extreme). The entire piece screams aggressive and brings you to the edge of your seat. The lead guitar gets ample time to shine toward the end of the track and seems to sing along almost more than it does solo. "Into The Red", the title track, begins with a beautiful dialed down sound and hard reverb that takes us to the main riff. The near 12 minute track does this in a few different ways, where it will catch your attention and you will have it "figured out" just in time for it to change on you. Many different stylings are captured in this track, just a few being quiet and withdrawn, with the majority soaring through hard rock and alternative territories as well as extremely deep dives (pinch harmonics and deep growls included).

There are quite a lot of vocal elements in the track that deserve attention, and I think the studio mix found a steady middle ground to bring them all together neatly. My favorite piece of this is a segment of guitar in "I, The Visionary". To best explain, you would just have to hear it. It is a kind of guitar "walk" or "run" toward the beginning of the track, it moves in such an uncanny way from one chord to another that I probably had to hear it 6 times to really "get" it. The hammer on / pull off fluid movement in these segments is wildly entertaining and I think really fits the overall vibe of the album. "My Long Journey" was included as a bonus on the album, and a worthy inclusion with its sound. The chorus in this one really just grabs differently than the rest of the tracks, but the song moves in predictably unpredictable segments around it making it uniquely DISEASE material (even though it is dialed back just a hair). All of these tracks received a similar level of love and care (as well as production / post) that makes them work as a single entity even with the moving around they do.

In my opinion, this album is a valiant effort. It has good sound, involved musical elements and real complexity. I would give it the solid 10 if it were just a hair more refined. That being said, the production is what really took a hit, because it really is great outside of that. Hope to get another 26 years out of these phenom musicians.