Bleeding Through The Truth

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Reviewed by: Cory   //   Published: 1/11/2006

Few bands have benefited quite as much from the recent popularity of mosh-y metalcore as Bleeding Through. Thanks to increasingly popular venues for heavy music, like Headbanger's Ball and Ozzfest, Bleeding Through and many others have quickly become big names among the teenage eyeliner-wearing crowd. The test that many legitimate underground fans put them to is the record they make after they've had a taste of success. While a band like Lamb of God remained virtually unchanged and stayed true to their original vision, Eighteen Visions, No Warning and Avenged Sevenfold all abandoned their musical pasts in a grab at higher record sales. Orange County's Bleeding Through find themselves in a great position to please everyone, as they remain on Trustkill (still technically an independent label) and didn't have to alter their sound too much to guarantee commercial success. While certainly not an artistic leap forward for the band, The Truth is undoubtedly an ingenious career move. Hard-edged and hook-laden, this record could elevate Bleeding Through to the level of Killswitch Engage or Hatebreed, bands who have released two records in the span of time that Bleeding Through has released four.

I'm not saying I love this record, but there is no doubt in my mind that Bleeding Through achieved everything they wanted to and in that sense, the record is definitely a success. Produced by former Anthrax guitarist and Scrap 60 production team member Rob Caggiano (Cradle of Filth, A Life Once Lost, Dry Kill Logic), the recording possesses a potentially risky rawness that, thankfully for the band, never detracts from its accessibility. From the opening riff of "For Love And Failing," which features guest vocals from Soilent Green's Ben Falgoust, Bleeding Through make it clear that all melodic choruses and cheesy keyboard lines aside, they haven't forgotten how to play metal. There isn't a riff on this record I haven't heard before, but the fact that they've managed to write these lines into possible hit songs is the real accomplishment. "Kill To Believe" channels Slayer, Pantera and Cannibal Corpse before doing a complete 180 with one of the record's catchiest choruses.

If you want to get the gist of this record in about ten minutes, listen to the trio of "Dearly Departed," "Line In The Sand," and "She's Gone." The first begins with a verse tailor-made for headbanging before leading into an anthemic chorus featuring guest vocals from Tiger Army's Nick 13, one of the album's most pleasant surprises. Finish it out with a couple of mosh parts and you get the idea. "Line In The Sand" is the album's only real miss, a pathetic attempt at balladry that ends up sounding like Type O Negative meets Avenged Sevenfold. It's full of cheesy keyboards, cheesier guitar solos and lyrics about being ugly; In short, it's a fat mall-goth chick's wet dream. The reason these songs work in succession though, is that "She's Gone" is a minute and a half of thrashy goodness and keyboard schlock that brings it all back home. Whenever Bleeding Through makes a misstep, they recover quickly and the listening experience rarely suffers because of it. Much like the record's packaging, which hides an obscenely gory picture behind an innocently plain sleeve, Bleeding Through's musical core is unquestionably heavy, hiding at times beneath commercially safe melodies.

Bottom Line: As a longtime fan of hardcore and metal, it's easy to take out your aggression on bands like Bleeding Through, whose success has led to thousands of moronic androgynous pseudo-hardcore kids poorly bedroom-moshing across the nation and invading large club shows that would've once taken place in someone's basement, but it's just not fair. The Truth is a well-written, relatively adventurous record from a band with a legitimate place in metalcore. Expect to see Bleeding Through's star rise quickly in the next year.

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