3 Track 2009

Yet another in a long line of bands of late, who seem to think that genre labels should fit in with the current craze, rather than giving the prospective listener a clue as to what they sound like. That is the story of the UK’s confused little deathcore band Bound By Blood. Although there are some latent punk tendencies in the occasional employment of gang choruses, the core in the genre name doesn’t really fit at all. At best it could be described as a somewhat competent, though hyper-redundant merger of melodeath and groove metal, playing off those overused tremolo picked melodies that In Flames made popular in the mid 90s and a whole lot of mid-paced chugging that would successfully drink Pantera under the table.

The first glaring flaw, which seems to be a fairly common one among underground metalcore/deathcore acts, is putting a pointless one minute intro at the beginning of a brief EP or demo. Essentially these bands seem to think that chugging on a single note before breaking into your first actual song is a good way to build up tension, completely oblivious to the fact that the bands who pioneered this approach to starting an album would put something that would create an impression, rather than simply thudding on one chord and thinking you’re bad ass.

When the two actual songs get going, things get remarkably less terrible, but still not terribly interesting. The usual interchange of influences occurs, a little melodic death here, a couple nods to Dimebag Darrell and Robb Flynn there, and a half-hearted attempt at emulating either death grunts or blackened screams, all done fairly competently, but in such a predictable and flat manner that it fails to cross the threshold between mediocre and solid. This singer avoids the melodrama of Pantera and also the awkwardness of Machine Head, but still can’t really be distinctive enough to warrant further concern.

There isn’t really much to grab onto here in terms of melodic material, save an occasional reference to a few clichés that was all the rage in Gothenburg 15 years ago, and with double the actual content I might add. You can add this to your endless list of cookie cutter metalcore acts circa 2004-2009, assuming that you go for this stuff. Personally I tend to go for something that takes a little more initiative and gets a little more ambitious. There's nothing more to see here, now move along please gentlemen.