NOW IS THE TIME FOR A BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED REUNION

For the young ‘uns that don’t remember, Blood Has Been Shed is the way killer turn-of-the-century metalcore band that Howard Jones and Justin Foley were in before they signed Killswitch Enage. It’s true! I swear it! These dudes were really real people even before KsE ever came along.

Blood Has Been Shed are also a band that a lot of people — like me! — have been waiting for a reunion from since, like, forever. Or at least 2009, when BHBS guitarist Corey Unger said that “I have been working on the new album,” which led many of us to believe that he was probably, y’know, working on a new album.

So naturally, when Vince and I interviewed KsE bassist Mike D’Antonio  Mr. Jones later that same year, we asked the vocalist about it. I’ve re-printed this quote about a bajillion times now, but it’s never not-relevant to the discussion of a possible BHBS reunion, so here it is again:

…there was some news a little while ago that there might be another Blood Has Been Shed album.  Are you involved in that still in any capacity?

Howard Jones:    Well… yeah.

[Laughter]

Well, I don’t know.  They said there may be a variety of singers.  They made it sound like you might not be coming back to that.

HJ:    Yeah.

It’s cool.  I love Blood Has Been Shed, so when I heard that . . .

HJ:    There are all kinds of stuff floating around.  We’re just trying to figure out what exactly it is that we’re going to do.  Blood Has Been Shed is just one of those things where none of us do it full time, barely part time.  We’ll get something out.

Mike D’Antonio:    It’s crazy, too.  I’ve heard some tracks.

[Laughter]

MD:    It’s pretty nuts, and Blood Has Been Shed is already nuts.

[Laughter]

HJ:    I don’t know how it went to another level, but whew boy.  I can actually say I’ve never heard anything like this.

And still, nothing ever really seemed to happen with Blood Has Been Shed. In fact, the last we ever heard of the possible reunion came a little over two years ago, when a rumor started circulating that Burnt by the Sun’s Mike Olender might have been taking Jones’ spot in the band.

So… you see where I’m going with this, right?

Howard Jones is no longer in Killswitch Engage. There has literally never been a better time for him to re-join Blood Has Been Shed. I mean, it’s not like the dude has to play New England Metalfest in April or anything.

Of course, with the way the world sucks like it does, the reunion probably still won’t come to fruition. Either it will turn out that Jones is leaving music, or had to go to rehab, or something totally terrible like that, and his re-joining BHBS will be out of the question; or it will turn out that Jones did not leave Killswitch on good terms, and so now he can’t be in the same room with Justin Foley; or it will turn out that Jones left KsE because he actually was abducted by aliens.

Still, I’m going to continue to pine for Blood Has Been Shed to come back to the metal world. Have you listened to Spirals lately? These dudes may have inadvertently created deathcore. They should really make a magical re-appearance and teach the kiddies how it’s done.

-AR