Review: Bleeding Through (GC)

Bleeding Through - Nine (Shaprtone Records)



Before I get started, I need to let you know that I LOVE Bleeding Through! It wasn’t always the case when they first arrived on the scene, I was full emersed int the hardcore/metalcore scene and turned my nose up at them because as we all knew at the time keyboards weren’t metal! I then decided not to be a total tosser and actually listen to them and when I did, I was suitably blow away and retracted all my previous ‘’that’s not metal’’ bullshit and I have been a massive fan ever since. 

They are a band that in my opinion have not released 1 bad album, they always deliver, so news they were releasing a new album was received with excitement and nerves at the same time, because after a 7 year break and being so far into a career does this band still have the fire to create something that matches up to their past glories?

After the first 25 seconds of opener Gallows you can feel that the fire is still there and everything you have come to expect from Bleeding Through is stamped all over this song, dark atmosphere and furious anger mixed with the more melodic parts and of course scathing metalcore riffing all rounded off with some spectacular drum work, great start! 

Our Brand Is Chaos starts off with a slightly cringey ‘fuck with us and find out’ chant which while as expected, is delivered with some force its not for me and it carries on through the song and is a slight disappointment if I am honest because once again musically its spot on and doesn’t stray far from the usual BT template so is always going to hit the mark just that lyric could have been binned off in my opinion? 

Dead, But So Alive suffers from no such issues with lyrics or brutality, this is just a full blunt force beating of a track and when the more melodic sections are introduced, they fit in seamlessly and the song absolutely loses no power or force which shows just how well they know how to create dramatic effect in songs. Hail Destruction the drapes everything in brooding atmospherics and has a more subdued pacing to begin with and it merges more punishing sections with the slower pace to spectacular effect throughout and the soloing that cuts through towards the end is another wonderful layer. 

Lost In Isolation really allows the backing vocals from Marta Demmel to now take a front seat and it is a wonderful juxtaposition and when you throw in Byron Davis of God Forbid into the mix you get some of the albums best lyrical work and just shows that they will always allow different styles lead the way and aren’t afraid to try new things.

I’m not keen on Last Breath as its just a mid-album atmospheric piano led interlude that just stunts the flow a bit, frustrating but instantly forgotten as Path To Our Disease wastes no time in firmly re-establishing what you actually want to hear and once again Marta takes a front seat in this track with her vocals leading the track in and then it segues into the most hardcore influenced parts on the whole album and its glorious to hear because its all done so effortlessly and sounds like a band 1 or 2 albums in making a statement not a band 9 albums and 20+ years into a career which is testament to how good Bleeding Through really are! 

This far in you may expect a couple of the tracks to become fillers but this is not the case with I am Resistance which has an album highlight guest appearance from Comeback Kid’s Andrew Neufield his vocals bounce perfectly off Brandon Schiepatti’s and it’s a match made in heaven musically it has an epic feel and everything is delivered with such unrelenting perfection you cant help but be impressed with it! Emery then shows that, when necessary, they don’t have to be full throttle and head down to be heavy, when they want, they can dial down the brutality but still execute an at times ridiculously beautiful but still ultimately heavy track. 

War Time sounds exactly how you would want it to with a title like that, full of ruthless aggression and violence that has the added voice of Shadows Fall, Brian Fair to help hammer the messages home, so it falls down to Unholy Armada to close the album and how do you close an album of such monstrous savagery? Exactly as it began, more of the same! 

Usually you may get bored of someone just trying to be heavy and unrelenting for the sake of it, but you never feel that Bleeding Through are doing it just for the sake of it, you believe everything they say and can feel the passion burring through in every track and that what makes this band so special and still so important in 2025, most bands of this kind have mellowed our or changed their direction to the disgust of fans and reviewers, I can guarantee you if you played this to someone and told them it was this band 9th record they would only believe you because of the title! Truly breath-taking stuff.

As I have already said, I love Bleeding Through but wasn’t really 100% sure what to expect from this album, after all it has been 7 years since their last release, I seriously needn’t have worried one bit! They have returned and have delivered an album that slots perfectly into their body of work and could be picked out and listened to by anyone and not just a fan like me! In 2025 you could ask, what has Bleeding Through got to offer me that any other metalcore band hasn’t?, all I would do is sit you down and get you to listen to this album and then ask you to pick me a better release in the last 5 years and I guarantee you would struggle to!! 

This is an urgent, angry, unrelenting, uplifting and important album because it ushers back one of the most important metalcore acts of all time back to the top of their game and here’s hoping this continues for many more years to come. 10/10