Womb

The American collective Bleed, unlike other pioneers of the American industrial death metal, never had a wide promotion and any serious fame. if the support and promotion of Fear Factory, Meathook Seed or Dead World provided Roadrunner, Earache and Release \ Relapse respectively, then Requiem Production is just a sign, a sign invented by the band at the time when they was called Nothing Sacred and played a completely different music, and the only reason for placing on the disk of the Requiem logo was the desire not to look so much left unattended. It would seem that the band was holding all the cards. Rudiments and atavism of the thrashing Nothing Sacred, contained in the demo of 1992, were eliminated and the band put their best foot forward on the debut and single EP "Womb" released in 1993. The basis is taken typically by American death metal, which was for the group a serious inspiration a year or two ago, which was influenced by British industrial (Godflesh, Pitchshifter) and American (Nine Inch Nails), it was reflected in the abundance of colloquial and atmospheric samples and guitar solutions, heard from Pitchshifter and redecorated in their own way. The same list could include the use of a drum machine, but this measure is forced, after the leaving of Ron Heemstra, who later took part in Dusk, the band couldn’t find a suitable participant.

After such a description, it would seem clear what to expect, but the final atmosphere of the disc turns out to be different from that offered by colleagues, despite the brutal "square" riffing breaks out something decadent and too often for such a short recording the material sinks at a slow pace. Music of Bleed did not use the developments of Napalm Death, in contrast to the Fear Factory that gave an explosive effect to their aggressively-noisy music, in it there is no mechanical (as in Pichshchitter), and a hardcore groove (as in Meathook Seed), a trance monotony and a groove of works by Justin Broadrick. Not least this feeling is achieved through recording, limited in money Bleed could not record in expensive studios and use the services of the producer. Their sound is deprived of pressure and a fraction of the volume that could give a completely different color to the music. The material was more than relevant at the release date, and the group was at the right time but not in the right place - Green Bay provided too few opportunities, both technical (already mentioned record), and organizational. During the print run the Fear Factory released "Soul of a New Machine", and Bleed suddenly became imitators, instead of being on equal footing. But history does not tolerate a subjunctive mood, and at the moment Bleed is more known only that for the design of "Womb" the first used the same stylish photo of the Cancer Alley from National Geographic, as Godflesh several years later.

(Originally written for http://en.hohlraum.ru)