BLEEDING THROUGH

Whether by accident or design, BLEEDING THROUGH have never outstayed their welcome. One of the most distinctive bands to emerge from the metalcore boom of the early-to-mid noughties, the Orange County crew have a sound that casually transcends the vagaries of metal fashion. In fact, "Nine" arrives at a point in history when there are countless bands pursuing a similar course, with gothic grandeur and brutal beatdowns playing equal roles in whichever metalcore / deathcore hybrid they happen to be peddling. BLEEDING THROUGH were ahead of their time when they released breakthrough album "This Is Love, This Is Murderous" 22 years ago, and while their ninth album will never be accused of being groundbreaking in any way, it still sounds ruthlessly contemporary and dawn-dew fresh. Somehow, theirs is a formula that just works.

When BLEEDING THROUGH released their comeback album "Love Will Kill All" in 2018, it took many people by surprise. Previous career peaks like "The Truth" (2006) and "Declaration" have toyed with a slightly less abrasive sound, but upon returning after a relatively brief hiatus, frontman Brandan Schieppati and his loyal henchmen (and woman) were clearly in no mood for compromise. That seems doubly true here. "Nine" is full of everything that made previous records stand out, from gruesome atmospherics and CRADLE OF FILTH-style keyboard fog, to murderous breakdowns and melo-death ferocity.

The opening "Gallows" ticks all of those boxes, but with a conviction that was conspicuous by its absence last time around. There are angsty melodic hooks in abundance, but songs like "Our Brand Is Chaos" and "Dead, But So Alive" never conform to the usual metalcore cliches. Instead, "Nine" is measurably heavier than the subgenre average, with thick, death metal guitar tones and detonation drum sounds from the deathcore school of futuristic violence. BLEEDING THROUGH have always made plain their debt to early '90s melodic death metal, but never with this much grit and grime coursing through every riff.

On the flipside, "Nine" contains some of the most grandiloquent and impressive-sounding arrangements that the Californians have ever attempted. Songs like "Hail Destruction", which sounds like some gargantuan ceremony in the hallowed halls of Hell, and "Path To Our Disease" are the antithesis of cookie cutter metalcore, with clean vocals used sparingly but effectively, and everything else focused on magnifying horror and crushing all-comers.

Meanwhile, "Nine" has presented BLEEDING THROUGH with an opportunity to break bread with some of their old friends. Collaborations with GOD FORBID, COMEBACK KID and SHADOWS FALL might have turned this into some overpopulated, SOULFLY-style free-for-all. Instead, "Lost In Isolation" (with GOD FORBID) and "I Am Resistance" (with COMEBACK KID) are among the catchiest songs here, while "War Time" (with SHADOWS FALL) is a visceral, metalcore machine-gun blast with breakdowns, blastbeats and a clean vocal chorus for added sweetness.

They save the best until last. "Unholy Armada" neatly sums up what we really want from BLEEDING THROUGH. It is blustery and cinematic, but resolutely hard-as-nails, and with a textural richness fit to make any morbid goth swoon. More of this, and these dogged veterans may yet have another classic in them. For now, this will do nicely.