THINE EYES BLEED’S THINE EYES BLEED WILL MAKE THINE EYES, UH, BLEED

So here’s the thing: I never heard In the Wake of Separation, Thine Eyes Bleed’s 2005 debut on The End Records. So, yes, I did know them primarily as that band with Tom Araya’s brother. So, no, I was most certainly not waiting with baited breath for a new offering from Thine Eyes Bleed.

Well, I probably should have been; I’ll have to go back now and check out In the Wake of Separation to make sure that this band was always this good. ‘Cause their self-titled new album is killer.

Thine Eyes Bleed aren’t exactly reinventing the wheel. Like Demiricous, they play an ultra-intense form of thrash that’s tinged with elements of death metal at its more melodic. But whereas it seems pretty clear to every living thing with two ears and a brain that Demiricous listened to a lot of Slayer growing up, a blind man can see that Thine Eyes Bleed, as a collective, must be really, really excited about this summer’s At the Gates and Carcass reunion tours.

Luckily, the band has the chops to back it up; listening to Thine Eyes Bleed, the band and the album, is somewhat akin to having a bear sink its claws into your forehead before peeling your face back. I will have to pay much closer attention to this band in the future; you should do the same.

(three and a half out of five horns)

-AR