In the Red / The Anchor

Split [7-inch] (2010)

Brian Shultz

In the Red and the Anchor contribute a song apiece to this split single for Kiss of Death, and both put in a decent dent.

The former act get by on "All Sixes" with throaty, strained vocals, busy drum fills, and a mid-tempo pacing, the Gainesville sound lightly coating it. It's definitely a little more pained and sincere-sounding than what might have been offered up for the most part on their Volume 2 full-length last year.

I seem to only come across the Anchor on split releases, and while "Opposite of Awesome" doesn't hit me as hard as "This Is for My Friends" did from their split with O Pioneers!!!, it's got this one 16-second part in the bridge where the guitar tones catch me by surprise, enthralling me in a semi-Hot Water Music-esque sense. The track feels a little too straightforward and generic for my liking otherwise, but the title's hardly indicative of its overall value. You need another gravelly, straight-ahead punk song? "Opposite of Awesome" will do it for ya.

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this split 7"