Bleeding Heart "Lifeless" CD
[Full House]
This is the debut full-length from this Finnish act, and despite some minor issues with the recording it's a damn solid effort that shows improvements from their demo material and puts them right in line with their country's impressive reputation for pounding metallic hardcore. Few songs hit the three-minute mark, opting to keep it short but sweet, so their style is generally straightforward and to the point. There are plenty of chugging chord progressions, a few thrashier metal picking patterns, some quick and almost Integrity-esque lead breaks, lots of mosh parts, etc. It's a pretty even mix of straight up metallic hardcore that takes a heavier spin to the traditional old school sound and the darker metal runs more common coming from the European side of the genre. The vocals are pretty over the top, and I like that a lot. It's basically a shouted/yelled delivery but the dude's got a really pissed off bite to his voice, so it really works well with this style. As is often the case it's nothing innovative, but the songwriting is hard-hitting and possesses a good level of energy, so I'm a total sucker for it. "Calling Your Name" is one of the thrashiest tracks as far as overall delivery and its prominent display of openly metallic runs; while closing instrumental "The End" opens with a fucking beautiful acoustic passage that sounds amazing and leads into some slower melodic leads and creative picking patterns that stand out a lot... they really ought to infuse more of that angle into their usual writing! Then the last two tracks are much improved re-recordings of material that appeared on the group's demo a few years back, tacked on as a bonus after about two minutes of blank space (which is kind of a poor break in continuity, it would've been better to just mix them in with the rest of the record). As far as the production goes, it sounds okay, but needs some work. The drums are borderline, blending a clicky sort of modern sound with enough punch to get by, and the vocals sound fine. It's the guitar tone that suffers the most, coming off as a bit thin and lacking in crunch. Thankfully the bass is really thick, so even though it doesn't really play a dominant role, it really does add a lot of density that helps fill in the gaps left by the guitar sound. Thickening up those guitars with a heavier and more fluid distortion would make a massive difference here, though. The layout looks damn good: Clean and consistent with a few black and white band photos and decorative textures/illustrations. The content of the songs is pretty vicious, covering the usual ground of retribution, pain and suffering, betrayal, and so on. "I got nothing, nothing to lose, What you'll get is my hate, I've been waiting, waiting for you, When we meet hell breaks loose, This time there is no escape, You can run but you can't hide, My fists are ready for you..." More crushing material from Finland. I can't get enough of this stuff, it seems like damn near every band of this nature that comes out of Finland is good. Keep your eyes peeled... (7/10)
Running time - 25:00 (approximately), Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: All is Lost, Calling Your Name, The End, Stabbed in the Back]
Full House Records - http://www.fullhouserecords.com

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