Review: Bleeding Through Put the “Metal” in Metalcore on Nine
Orange County, California’s Bleeding Through have always been one of my favorite metalcore bands. Other reigning champs like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Unearth, etc. have certainly written plenty of hits over the years, classics, even, but BT have that extra little oomph that appeases the death metal enthusiast in me. They frequently blur the line between metalcore and deathcore, a little too fast and brutal for the former but too melodic for the latter. Whatever the secret is, they’ve found a formula that works for them and ran with it, and even though their ninth studio album Nine probably won’t win any awards for the most original title, it’s still a respectable demonstration on how to retread old ground without it feeling forced or contrived.
The first half of the album starts strong and steadily gains momentum, with the opening track “Gallows” kicking things off with a bang. The solemn chorus and subtle-yet-effective variation on the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure denote a genuine enthusiasm and an excitement that is both palpable and infectious. That same enthusiasm then spills over into the next song “Our Brand is Chaos”, which, let’s be real, is just a straight-up deathcore song. The main chant of “Fuck with us and find out” is admittedly pretty cheesy, but it would definitely make for a good call-out at a live show, and hey, what can I say, it works with the music. It helps that the song itself is genuinely heavy too, especially towards the second half when the blast beats start rolling. The final 90 seconds or so of that song are arguably the heaviest part of the entire album, reminiscent of bands like Carnifex or As Blood Runs Black.
The following track “Dead, But So Alive” strikes a nice balance between the two trains of thought, pitting a chunky, thrashy opening riff and main verses against a very somber chorus. This is also the point where they let lead guitarist Brian Leppke out of his cage, with the first of several tastefully written guitar solos making an appearance and providing an extra little shot of adrenaline before the final chorus. But if it’s shredding we’re talking about, then we have to mention the fourth song “Hail Destruction”, which makes it seem like the music is going to fade out just past the three-minute mark but then slowly builds back up to a bona fide face melter. Leppke’s playing has always been one of the highlights of this band for me, if not the highlight.
It’s not just him doing all of the heavy lifting though, as there is also a ripping guest solo from God Forbid’s Doc Coyle at the end of “Lost In Isolation”. Unfortunately, the music begins to lose some steam past this point, and oddly enough, Doc’s solo also inadvertently highlights a glaring issue that I had with the other two guest spots on this album.
You see, I got particularly excited and more than a little nostalgic when I saw that the penultimate track “War Time” featured an appearance by none other than Brian Fair of Shadows Fall. Like so many others, I jammed the absolute fuck out of The War Within when it first came out, and a lot of that had to do very specifically with Fair’s trademark roars. His voice is incredibly powerful and instantly recognizable, and I was looking forward to hearing how it meshed with Bleeding Through’s faster, more melodic style. But then, when the time finally came, instead of taking a back seat and giving him the spotlight for a moment or two, both he and Brandan Schieppati are screaming at the same time, and you have to be listening carefully to be able to tell which one is which. I even had to replay the track three times just to find the spot where it happens.
It’s a shame, too, because musically that song is actually quite good, a much-needed thrashy adrenaline boost that hits the spot after the snooze-fest that is “Path of Our Disease”, and it even has a huge breakdown at the end that would have been perfect for Brian to take center stage. It’s frustrating, because they could have had a monstrous, album-defining moment that everyone would have eaten up like greedy little pigs, myself included, but instead it feels like a wasted opportunity. If you’re gonna feature somebody that beloved within the genre and with that distinct of a voice, then get out of the way and let him take the reigns, otherwise what’s the point?
But on the other hand, there is yet another guest appearance by Andrew Neufeld of Comeback Kid two songs prior on “I Am Resistance” (which, from a musical standpoint, is serviceable but ultimately forgettable), and you can hear him just fine. I guess I just don’t understand the disparity in prioritization here; you’ve got two other guest appearances where the artists are featured prominently, but then when it comes time for arguably the most exciting one, he gets buried in the mix and just used for some backup vocals? I don’t get it. It’s not enough to sour the experience as a whole, but it does feel anticlimactic.
In any case, the final track “Unholy Armada” does close everything out on a strong note, so overall, this album is pretty much everything a Bleeding Through fan could want. It does have a noticeable slump in the back half, and it gets your hopes up unnecessarily about a guest spot that could have packed so much more of a punch than it does, but in spite of all that, it does get a lot right, too. It’s impeccably mixed, sonically massive, ambitious, empowering, heavy, and when it really gets going, it’s just plain fun. And you know what? At the end of the day, that’s all I really give a shit about.
Nine drops this Valentines Day via SharpTone Records, order your copy here
