Album Review: Bleeding Through - The Great Fire

It’s such a rarity to find a band after six albums and 13 years, to still progress and develop both their own sound and build on the style of a genre they have constantly endeavored to expand and advance. Although it seems they have never quite managed to nail exactly what they have promised at delivering. After the success of ‘The Truth’ in 2006 the band expanded their black metal influences for ‘The Declaration’ and seemed to come up stale with 2010s self-titled release which appeared to halt any progression. However with ‘The Great Fire’ Bleeding Through - while stripping back the gothic-synth infused black metal influences - have managed to once more focus their sound, delving back into those hardcore influences and holding back from the epic song structures, to offer up a more cohesive and purposeful out-and-out album.

Although this Orange County sextet find themselves only once stepping over the four minute mark, they certainly haven’t lost the epic and grandiose moments that they have become so synonyms with. Driven by the melodic synths and gothic organ, which take center stage on ‘Trail Of Seclusion’ and ‘Walking Dead’ to create heroic anthems. While ‘Faith In Fire’, ‘Goodbye To Death’, ‘Everything You Love Is Gone’ and ‘One By One’ hanker back to hardcore influences with bursts of pure power and pace that is unrelenting and chillingly abrasive. Yet the band are still offering up the slow tempo chugging clean vocals in tracks like ‘The Devil and Self Doubt’, matched in its melodic harmonies by a metallic solo. While the album closer ‘Back To Life’ drives the album to a symphonic end which proves the compositional power of their song writing.

There are still moments on this release where the keys seem to overpower some tracks before being tugged back to reveal the groggy and deliciously dark guitar tones. Colossal riffs dominate this release and surprisingly see a band, who after all these years are still managing to find themselves more aggressive and hard-hitting so far into their career. ‘The Great Fire’ is another accomplished step in Bleeding Through’s quest for their own unique niche within the metalcore genre, and their ever more focused blend of death metal and hardcore is something many have, and will try to emulate, yet they will always find themselves one step behind Bleeding Through.

4/5

'The Great Fire' is out now through Rise Records.

Connor O'Brien