| CD REVIEW Bleed From Within |
 |
|
Band: Bleed From Within This Hamilton (a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland) based Death Metal quintet was founded in 2005, when singer Scott Kennedy, guitarist Dave ‘Div’ Lennon, and bassist Dave ‘Goonzi’ Gowans joined former Metalcore act Paragon’s Scott McCreadie (guitar) and Ali Richardson (drums) with the common goal to make music that adds something to the music scene which keeps repeating itself over and over! Aggressive and brutal, they so impressed the promotor of their first gig played on August 26, 2005, that they were instantly offered to support I Killed The Prom Queen a month later! The band privately released their debut 5-track EP In The Eyes Of The Forgotten that same year, which not only got positive to great reviews but also saw the band starting to play high-profile gigs during which they played several times with bands like Job For A Cowboy, Mendeed, Exodus, Eternal Lord, Azrael, The Red Chord, AOAA and Black Dahlia Murder (the latterlisting BFW as one of their favorite bands in the booklet of their last album). Evidently, 2006 was a real nice year for the youngsters, and in early 2007 they recorded a new 5-track EP titled Welcome To The Plague Year. BTW now began putting together several short UK tours with the likes of Abel Is Dying, Godless Crusade, The Eyes Of A Traitor, and Ignominious Incarceration (and would even go on to do a short European stint). The EP was supposed to be released in April 2007 through Four Aces Records (time around which the band also allied with management company Sonic Temple Records), but due to problems with the label it was constantly delayed, and eventually it came out on Jan. 22, 2008, put together by band & management with (worldwide) distribution through Pro Sonic/ PHD. During a short UK tour during April 2008 in support of the release, BFW signed an impressive 5-album deal with Rising Records, convincing label owner Mark Daghorn with only one live performance. With time booked at the label’s own Red House Studios during November 2008 (with Karl Groom at the helm) means McCreadie is still featured on these recordings…because earlier in 2009 he was asked to up and leave due to failing collaboration. In order to keep the momentum the band was in a-flowing, Gowans switched to guitar, and the band recruited longtime friend (he’s been in Paradox too, and played with Richardson in an even older act, Boadicea’s Grave) Davie Provan. Earlier (in March), following a decision to take care of their on-line merchandizing themselves, the band had also parted ways amically with their management. Although some sources will give the band a Deathcore tag, and even though the music is indeed very aggressive and containing occasional breakdowns (usually affiliated to the Hardcore genre), the best way to describe BFW’s music is “Melodic Death Metal”…but no ordinary one, mind you! Nay, the band brings in enough technicality in the mosly fast-played tunes, inducing underlaying “complexity” through Progressive runs…and still manages to give the whole thing a melodic twist! Vocally, the lead growl is occasionally backed (and seconded) by a Blackened screamer…and McCready formerly in that role, I hope sómeone in the band can take over his duties, because in the case of a couple of songs the mixed (and frequently simultanuos) vocals are what make the track! Lyrically (according to one of my sources, and hard to control without lyrics), the songs apparently deal with personal inner struggles and relationships. Whatever, you can get acquainted with the band’s music at myspace.com/bleedfromwithin thanks to a rought pre-mix version of the track “Everlasting”, and album versions of “Servants Of Divinity”, “The Fall Of Man (Infected)”, and the recently added “Damnation”. Pity they didn’t also post the short “The Final Chapter”, which includes cleverly inserted re-interpreted excerpts of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”…but then time there’s still quite some time before the actual release of the album! In stead, you still get a treated to a track off the Welcome To the Plague Year (for another track off that EP, consult purevolume.com/bleedfromwithin)! End conclusion? A very nice full-length debut indeed, and containing many of the assets needed to make it into the year-lists of many a Death Metal fan! Personally, although I’ve enjoyed every moment of the many (at least 10 by now) listening sessions I gave the album, and despite the fact that I could go on listining to it without getting bored all too soon, still reserve the right not to give BFW’s debut album a perfect rating! 95/100 Tony. |