Have you ever wondered what it would feel like being trapped in a tiny room with an angry bear and no escape? well, imagine that you haven’t but you are curious to know what that feels like…Well, may I suggest listening to the new Bleeding Through album?
It’s been 6 long years since the bands then swansong The Great Fire and many of us thought we would never see another album from them, let alone one this good. Time has done nothing to dull the edges of Bleeding Through. This is still the snarling venom injected band you fell in love with, but this time it seems even more intense than ever.
Love Will Kill All opens quietly enough with Darkness A Feeling I Know, which opens like a gothic prayer, quiet and brooding with sinister dirging keys behind it before it viciously mutates into current single Fade Into the Ash. This is a classic Bleeding Through cut from the mould of previous album opener Love Lost in a hail of gunfire and Orange County Blonde and Blue. Its an instant classic that lets you know exactly where you are right from the get-go. It’ also features an epic clean sung chorus that will be stuck in your head for days burrowed in like an earworm looking for food.
End Us, Cold World and Dead Eyes all show the complete rage and passion that have always been the trademarks of Bleeding Through’s sound. Buzzsaw guitars, Machine Gun drums, and the most haunting keys that you can imagine this side of Norway. This is all capped off with the throat-shredding vocals being melded with some of the most sublime clean vocals you can imagine. It’s all a bit like being punched in the face, for your attacker to then turn around and give you a hug afterwards. This album also features a lot more of a presence from Marta as her signature keyboard is all over this, as well as her taking a more active role vocally as well which creates a nice balance in the process.
No friends has a bouncy pit friendly quality to it, as an explosive ode to fake friends and shit talkers. This is the most strictly hardcore track on the album and is the loosest and fun track on the album. It gives the album a much needed moment to breath and will hopefully find its way into future live shows.
Remains kicks off the last kick of the album with a savage searing riff that just completely cuts through the speakers and the type of drum work that can turn brains to dust with ease, before giving way to one of the most epic, sublime choruses the band has ever committed to tape. Its big, brutal and hugely anthemic. It shows off just how well Bleeding Through still manage to balance the heavy and the heartfelt, creating one of the albums shining moments in the process.
I will admit to being anxious when I heard Bleeding Through were returning with new music. As one of my favourite bands, I had sky high hopes for this album going in but also wasn’t sure what to expect from Bleeding Through after such a lengthy layoff. But the proof is here, Bleeding Through have returned with an absolute world beater of an album. Love Will Kill All is an album of the kind of passion, rage and lean aggression that made Bleeding Through such a special band in the first place and reminds you why they were one the best bands to rise out of a crowded scene. Love Will Kill All stands head to head with the best music of the band’s career and shows a renewed sense of focus, the rest of the metal world had better watch it’s collective backs because Bleeding Through are back and they are more pissed off than ever before.
