Burying the Past

Once again, I have no idea how I found this band. 'Burying the Past' is All I Could Bleed's first full-length album, and the way they play is with a very unusual sound (I seem to be saying that a lot recently).

In some ways the vocals are a bit reminiscent of those of Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom at some points, which is not necessarily a good thing. At others she sounds like Angela Gossow, but for the most part it sounds a bit in-between. The guitars also remind me a little of Karkaos in the slower sections and the drums are a typical kind of pummeling and pounding beat throughout. The way I'm describing them doesn't sound too unique, but the odd synthesizer of the music is what makes them different. I don't really know why I find that it makes them different, but if you listen to them you'll understand.

Let's get bad things out of the way first: it's a little bit unspectacular. Although they sound unique, it's not really anything worth running outside and telling the world about. The keyboard that makes them unique kind of feels a little out of place in all honesty, which isn't great when that's your main selling point.

I'd say that 'Valhalla' is the best track, which is kind of worrying. Why? Because the vocalist has seemingly changed by this point. It's no longer a growling woman, but a man singing. But just as I start to think "Oh shit, this is just one big mess," the woman starts with the growls again. For the most part though, it isn't her that's doing the singing. The song does add a nice bit of variety to the album (which for the most part is pretty bland), but it's not really anything sensational. The guitars are much better on this track than on the other songs, but if I was in the mood for epic guitars then All I Could Bleed would not be the first band I would turn to. It's still the most epic song on the album, maybe worthy of a higher rating than the rest of the songs drag it down to look like has.

'Private Hell' is pretty solid too, but once again it's not like it's something that needs to be spread around everywhere. Other than the growls, the drums seem to be the main focus here, and you can really hear them quite well despite the guitars pretty much being drowned out. As you'd probably imagine, the bass is practically non-existent if the guitars can barely be heard. The keyboard doesn't feel like it belongs there for the most part, so it's just an annoying sound in the background really.

The only track where the keyboard really stands out for me is 'Follow Me', the single that was released before the album. It actually fits in quite well here, and seems to be a large part of the driving force. The vocals on this track are different in that you can't really tell that they're done by a woman anymore (whereas previously it was still kind of distinguishable). The guitars aren't so drowned out, but the drums are still more prominent and the bass is nowhere to be found. It's not the best track, but it does stick out as the best song that followed the general formula that this band seem to have.

There seem to be an abundance of instrumentals on this record, three of the nine songs not featuring any vocals (other than a few whispered lines in 'Into the Black Clouds' - I don't know what that's about). I've listened to records with three instrumentals on them before, but they've featured twice as many other songs on the record than what All I Could Bleed offer us here. It makes the album feel a little like it lacks material on it, although when it's nothing spectacular it's not too much of a loss.

To conclude, there are a few good tracks that I have mentioned, but for the most part the album isn't great. It just feels so samey and there isn't really anything to get too excited about. If you want to listen to the band I can't stop you, but don't say you weren't warned how monotonous the whole thing is.