Bloody Sunday "To Sentence the Dead" CD
[Facedown]
I saw this band live once awhile back when they had a different vocalist and they were pretty good, so I as curious to hear more. I didn't hear their last disc, but this one delivers 10 tracks of furious metallic hardcore that's definitely pretty damn solid for what it offers. There are a couple of minor hitches to the recording that I'll get to later, but for the most part they overcome the setbacks and you can expect generally concise songs of around two to four minutes chock full of chunky power chords and tempo changes. They're definitely building on a foundation of the style of metallic hardcore that was big in the 90's, while still throwing in some speedy rhythms reminiscent of traditional hardcore, and continuing to spice things up with scarce hints of melody and a little added metal for good measure. I'm pleased to report that there are no motherfucking Swedish death metal riffs anywhere on this disc, so rest assured it's a mosh worthy and in your face affair with plenty of pissed off attitude (despite the underlying christian themes that populate a few tracks). "The Best of Me" ups the metal more than most of the material, "Old Friends and Dead Ends" is a quick blast with a good balance of tempo shifts and some interesting dissonant chords, "Total Immersion" is among the more classically styled hardcore songs (not without its churning breakdowns), "I For I" is another shorter tune with some catchier arrangements contrasted by significant dissonance happening on occasion, "Fact or Fiction" carries with it a little more of a groove (think Madball but heavier) but stands out as one of my favorites, etc. Now, as per the recording, it sounds damn good, but there are two things that annoy me: First, the vocals sound off somehow. The dude's got a solid shout going on, but something about the vocal recording sounds sort of raw and blown out (it's a technical thing, it has nothing to do with the guy's performance I don't think), so the shouting doesn't mesh with the music as well as I'd like. About 10 minutes into the record my ears start to get used to that, but since everything else sounds so good it would've been killer if the vocals fell into place a little better. But the drums sound pretty good, the bass is there adding smooth density, and the guitars are aptly heavy. However, this brings me to my second point of contention: I don't know if it was the mastering or the input levels on the guitars, but the fuckers max out with crackling bits of distortion quite often, and that makes listening in headphones or close quarters a little frustrating. Watch out for that stuff next time, 'cause otherwise this thing sounds pretty slick in my opinion, it just needs minor cleaning up. The layout was handled by Travis Smith and looks good to me. Some of the skulls hanging from trees are mildly cheesy, but I'm all for the cover and the ultra crisp text arrangements. Most of the lyrics are pretty bitter and deal with your usual topics of betrayal, greed, corruption, selfishness, etc. Then of course we have the tracks about how the theory of evolution is "science fiction" and ho one day "every man will call on the name of god", but maybe these dudes forget that not everyone believes in god. Hey, whatever. Most of the lyrics are decent and while I disagree with some of their messages they don't quite go so far as to piss me off with the delivery, so whatever. The disc packs a solid punch and wraps things up in a half-hour, so I'm into what they're doing in that regard. I certainly prefer this style of metalcore over the more contemporary brand, so hey, keep at it. (7/10)
Running time - 29:28, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: The Best of Me, Old Friends and Dead Ends, Fact or Fiction]
Facedown Records - http://www.facedownrecords.com

This review has been displayed 1618 times.