review: The Bleeding

The Bleeding

Morbid Prophecy

World War Now Records

18 October 2019

Sound: The Bleeding (U.K.) is moshing, thrash’em, bash’em with shredding and gremlin vocals and some blasting drumming.

Production: The music itself is inspired by the old school but the production is contemporary. Fans of intense, fast thrash should be pleased. The production could be a problem for some fans that absolutely demand real, live drums, and totally reject the drum programming/sampled drumming sound of the clicky drums of this album.

Instrumentation: This is no-holds barred moshing thrashing with the prototypical riffs fans like. It’s music by thrash fans for thrash maniacs. The bass guitar is quite audible in some segments. The riffs function on two modes only: “fast” and “faster.” Some of the soloing seems promising, but is underdeveloped or restrained in the shredding and the melodic aspects. This latter component could stand to be more elaborate. Overall, though, the skills are impressive.

Vocals: There is some lower growling in spots, but by far the dominant sensation is raspy, gremlin, evil cartoon witch vocals. It is a busy vocal approach, and sometimes the vocals seem to take up too much of the space. A bit less vocals would allow more of the music to be heard. The gremlin vocals themselves are way too gruesome and extreme for traditional thrash because The Bleeding is also fond of the more extreme genres.

Songs: Repeated listens have yielded chaos and speed. Unfortunately, repeated listens (some six listens at the very least, maybe closer to ten) have not revealed standout tracks. Lots of moshing thrashing, competent and solid thrash, but no songs that make you want to hear them the whole day long.

Lyrics: The lyrics focus on the sinister side of religion, as in the idea of focusing on religion as a manifestation of evil. Evil rites and evil oaths sworn to evil religions and their leaders.

Potential audience: This music is aimed at love-it-all thrash and headbanging extreme metal fans. Come to bang your head, stay to mosh.

Similar bands: Thrash bands that like to push the extremity by using brutal vocals and some blasting would share some fundamental similarities.

Assessment: This is a pretty good thrash album in 2019. It’s a headbanging good time for enthusiastic headbangers and moshers. The main weakness is that the album does not have songs that have a lasting impact. On the other hand, audiences looking for a fast and intense thrashing experience would find their match here. thebleeding.bandcamp.com