Bloodlust

2005 was a monumental year in metalcore history. It was the year that the genre went through cellular mitosis, and a new genre popped out- deathcore. Now, in my Despised Icon review, I generally went through a lot of the culture that was associated with deathcore back in the day, and while it may not be an entirely complete picture of what the scene was like (I totally neglected talking about emos in metal, which maybe I'll discuss in a JFAC or Abigail Williams review one day), I think it definitely articulates how the scene differentiated itself as a completely separate entity that had been unseen up until that point.

With this album by Through the Eyes of the Dead, you get a good idea of what a "half metalcore half deathcore" band sounds like. Listening to it is akin to watching a cell divide at its halfway point- you can see the two bodies separating, but they're not totally separated. It's still a single entity, but simultaneously moving in opposite directions. Bloodlust takes a far more melodic approach to deathcore, doesn't use incredibly low-tuned guitars, but still manages to have a lot of death metal influence. Much of the traits that makes deathcore bands like Suicide Silence distinctly different from traditional metalcore are simply unseen, but the net sound is still far more death metal influenced than the average metalcore band.

Fortunately for Through The Eyes of the Dead, a lot of the features on this album still shine as brightly today as they did back then. I really wish a lot of deathcore bands incorporated the melodic traits this album uses. There's been a few shining examples, such as Veil of Maya, but most deathcore ultimately went down the route of slamming, breakdowns, and rhythm-centered songs rather than melodically driven songs. It's not always a bad thing, plenty of these kinds of bands feature great musicians, but at times with some of them, you can only think "hm... can these guys actually play a fucking note if their life depended on it?"

On Bloodlust, the guitarists incorporate the natural minor scale and build the songs off of a few main ideas. They're not trying to impress the listener with sheer technical ability, rather they just try make good songs with catchy melodies. It sounds melodically similar to a lot of the stuff The Black Dahlia Murder was releasing with Miasma or Unhallowed, but far more on the core side of things. The band is unafraid of going into breakdowns, but these breakdowns are more reminiscent of metalcore bands rather than deathcore. They don't tune low, so it doesn't have that incredibly beefy slamming feeling that is trademark in deathcore. In general, for a breakdown, I'd prefer the deathcore-style breakdown, but it's really interesting to hear the style played here, because it reflects the time period it was recorded, whereby "deathcore" and "metalcore" hadn't fully separated.

Probably my favorite aspects of this album have always been the vocalist and the drummer. While the melodies are fun and catchy, the drummer does an absolutely awesome job giving energy where it's needed to certain parts. There's not just straight blasting or double bass chugging through long sections. He really goes everywhere on the kit, and loves to use the cymbals for far more than simply a crash effect. It's loads of fun to hear him, and pretty impressive.

The vocalist is by far the most "death metal" aspect of this band, and is easily what separates the band from the entire metalcore genre. He often uses a really high pitch scream that is reminiscent of The Black Dahlia Murder, but isn't afraid to go into deep gutturals. It's distinctly different from the typical "shouting" scream found in metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage or even August Burns Red. I personally love it, and the way it's mixed by increasing the gain of his mic gives a very rough edge to the overall scream.

The only downside of this album is that the mix of the guitars is pretty outdated. At this point, there's a ton of people with a pod, cab sim, and daw who could easily emulate a very similar guitar tone in about a couple minutes. It just doesn't have the sharpness and thickness of tone that is created for more modern metalcore/deathcore albums. It would be really interesting to hear this album re-recorded, for sure. I also wonder if the mix is indicative of the budget that the band had for someone to mix the album, as they were basically starting out when they recorded this.

Overall, I really like this album. It holds a special place in my heart as I was around 13 the first time I heard it, and now hearing it 14 years later is really interesting. It holds up pretty well, I still like a lot of the songs. Again, it's a great album to check out to see what deathcore was like in an incredibly nascent stage, even though the genre spawned in multiple places all with somewhat different styles (but all generally around the same time).