Album Review: Bleeding Through – Nine (Sharptone Records)

SoCal metalcore behemoth Bleeding Through will release their long-awaited, ninth full length album, ‘Nine’, on February 14th via SharpTone Records.

Sometimes, to find your path forward, you to look back at the journey you’ve made. No, this isn’t me spouting philosophy, it’s me referencing what Bleeding Through have done on this new album. Looking back, embracing their past, and using it to make their modern sound more complete. It is metalcore through and through, but rather than sound like a band playing ‘catch-up’, this album serves to remind all about the power that they have.

It’s a mighty Bleeding Through album, aggressive from the start with Gallows and the hilariously titled, Our Band is Chaos. It’s words that ring true though, even if their use of melody and cinematic effects across the album give it a more dramatic feel. This is notable, but it’s not what everyone will remember. It’s all about the richness of their heavy side, and that is on even more garish display with the manic discharge of brutal speed and heaviness that comes from Dead, But So Alive. Hell, even their melodic tones have an intensity that cuts through.

The demand that you head bang until it hurts continues with the dark devastation of Hail Destruction. Where symphonic elements give it a much fresher feel. Then along comes Lost in Isolation to deliver bursts of mania and a chorus that soars in delightful fashion. It’s equally one of the more hostile sounding tracks and one of the most melodically epic tracks of all, and just so happens to feature God Forbid.

No time to dwell on that banger though, the latter half of the album is just as intense. Even if the cinematic intermission of Last Breath, with its operatic vocals, seems out of place. It’s a chance to catch the breath but has its own power and is the perfect piece to come before Path of Our Disease, which finds the band incorporating more clean vocals from keyboardist, Marta. The evolving sound of Bleeding Through on clear display.

The second guest on the album is Comeback Kid vocalist Andrew Neufeld, who joins the band on I Am Resistance. A roaring display of their old-school thinking, combined with a modern approach to heaviness. The synth in this track is very cool. Later, on War Time, it’s Shadows Fall that guests on a track that can be summed up as the sound of annihilation. Bleeding Through making sure each of their guests are in a prominent place and delivering something memorable.

Which does sum up the album. It is very memorable and Bleeding Through have aimed to deliver a mighty metalcore release, without pushing the limits of the genre in any way. It’s them, just a more focused them, and that very few will be feeling burnt out by the time Emery and Unholy Armada arrives, is the proof that this album is very good.

Bleeding Through – Nine Track Listing:

1. Gallows
2. Our Band is Chaos
3. Dead, But So Alive
4. Hail Destruction
5. Lost in Isolation (feat. God Forbid)
6. Last Breath
7. Path to Our Disease
8. I Am Resistance (feat. Comeback Kid)
9. Emery
10. War Time (feat. Shadows Fall)
11. Unholy Armada

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