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BLEEDING THROUGH "Nine"
BLEEDING THROUGH "Nine"
By Dr. Abner Mality
Time sure flies, regardless if you're having fun or not. Has it really been 20 years since the heyday of the metalcore movement and bands like BLEEDING THROUGH? They were one of the leaders of that trend back in the day and our old buddy Thrash-head even interviewed them in the early 2000's (find it HERE). Things got awfully quiet for these guys until recently and they are now back in action with "Nine". When something you consider "new" is looked upon with nostalgia by the younger generation, it's pretty sobering, I can tell you.
"Metalcore" of that early 2000's period to me sounded a lot like a combination of melodic death metal and poppy punk. That can still be found on "Nine", but there's also a kind of symphonic black metal touch due to the keyboards and occasional female vocals of Marta Petersson, which do add some welcome color. Most of the vocals are still handled by Brandan Schiepatti, who still screams for all he's worth but adds in those poppy AVENGED SEVENFOLD type choruses. Some of those are surprisingly catchy, others just stick out like a sore thumb.
As you may have gathered, "Nine" is very much in that classic metalcore mode, with both the good and bad that entails. There's pure aggression with melody in it, but also those by the numbers "bump-da-bump bump" breakdowns that wore out their welcome a long time ago. The playing is very tight throughout and production is more than adequate. Tracks that I liked here were "Dead But So Alive", "War Time" (with SHADOWS FALL guesting) and the rather epic "Unholy Armada".
If you were ever a fan of BLEEDING THROUGH, this is a no-brainer, but for those who had an aversion to metalcore, it's not going to change your mind.
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