This album stands as a 3/5 (or a VERY light 3.5/5). The hints of electronica were not bad but personally thinks they were unnecessary (esp on tracks 10 & 12) 'cause this album is supposed to be a RED album, not a Linkin Park 'could've been' album. Only tracks 7 and 8 had guitar effects that mildly worked in the tracks' favor. Even the 'hard rock' guitar sound was too subtle to have any real spotlight in this album. The problem is that this album did not incorporate MORE of these instrumentations in the majority, or all, of their tracks. At least this band attempted to mend their sound alongside classic instrumentation such as the violin & piano. Surprised how long these nu-metal qualities can still work for certain bands. More so, this is a band on the verge of breaking into a sound that's more like their own. The album is odd in the sense that it's not entirely ear-grabbing upon it's first listen due to the cliche guitar attack, but if given careful attention to the extra textures you'll realize this band isn't just some other 21st century alternative metal chugga-chug band. In addition, the band has created a more muscular and tighter sound that makes the album more enjoyable. This helps give the band a stronger unique aesthetic that fits in their sound perfectly and never comes of as smothering (Which was a problem in the first album). This isn't precisely game-changing but this time the band give more careful attention to the use of keyboard/orchestra patches & textures. On their second album: Red pull just enough tricks to create a more focused and slightly more experimental album. It's nice to see a band moving towards potential when the opposite seems to happen so often, but Innocence and Instinct is just a growing boy cleaning up his mess, nothing more.

The problem, however, is that the band has gone from derivative and boring to derivative and 'okay' riffs have improved, strings work better and songs don't drag as much, but it's still a trip through extremely familiar mainstream rock territory. Innocence and Instinct marks a definite improvement for Red, and anyone saying differently is a loon.

Red innocence and instinct zippyshae