With Blood Comes Cleansing hails from Atlanta, Georgia, and with Horror are set to make their Victory Records debut, a move that will definitely give them an exposure boost and help spread their message. Horror is their second full-length album, following Golgotha, released on Blood and Ink Records in 2006. I have not heard that previous album, but I hear it is along similar lines to this, almost to a fault as it would seem.
The music is catchy and very easy to slip into. The riffs are initially very death metal in style and speed, with incessant drums to match, before slipping into some seriously heavy hardcore-style breakdowns that got my head rocking before I could even tell what was happening. The vocals are just as brutal as the instrumental performances, literally pummeling your head, driving ever deeper in and taking hold until you have no control in the face of their brutality.
All is not great with Horror. As catchy, heavy, and brutal as it is, the song structure is strikingly similar throughout. There is nothing to truly surprise musically. Each song opens with the standard death metal trappings before introducing the breakdown. Lather, rinse, repeat. None of the songs are all that long, but if you listen to the album straight through, you are not likely to be able to tell one song from another. This produces quite the conundrum.
I would be lying if I said I did not like the album. It felt like a well-worn glove. You press play and are greeted with something that is familiar and doesn't immediately suck like so many bands tend to do. You take it in with a warm embrace, letting the heaviness wash over you. However, after the initial honeymoon reaction, you take a step back and think about what is being played and you realize it is nothing that you haven't heard before and better. It is not particularly original, and seems to trade on said familiarity to gain entry.
To its credit, the guitars from Jeremy Sims and Scott Erickson produce some really heavy riffs that could crush cement while vocalist Dean Atkinson sounds like his near ripping his throat to complete shreds. There is no doubt they are putting their heart into the music, and from the sound of it, will likely have much more to share as they grow as a band.
Bottomline. In short, listen to this. It is fun, it is heavy, and you may gain something from the positive message buried in the lyrics. With Blood Comes Cleansing is a band with clear and definite talent. As they develop they are sure to produce something that is a stronger than what is displayed here. In the meantime, I will just let the heavy music take control for a while.
Recommended.
1 comments:
"I have heard a few Christian rock and metal bands, from Stryper and Petra to Tourniquet and Sacrament. Granted, I do not have great exposure to metal from the Christian perspective, as they do not tend to get a lot of mainstream press or promotion. Being Christian it is an area of music that I would like to explore a little more, if only there was more time to get to everything I wanted, right?"
Hmm. One (not well known) christian rock/metal band is HB. You propably have never even heard about it. But you can listen to it's music here:
http://www.myspace.com/hbmetal
Blog about it, if you like it.
(Some information about the band is here:
http://www.musicaldiscoveries.com/digest/digest.php?a=viewr&id=701)
Post a Comment