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Black Thoughts Bleeding

Tragedy Of Evolution EP

Written by: PP on 10/08/2008 18:26:02

The luck surely isn't with Black Thoughts Bleeding when it comes to getting a review in our magazine. The first time these guys sent us their debut EP/demo "Tragedy Of Evolution" was in April (I'm guessing), but then it got lost in the mail. A few months later they wrote me an email wondering if we were going to review it, and only then we realized that the record never made it to the Rockfreaks headquarters (bands, be advised: write us an email a week after asking if we've received your record). Once I finally received a digital copy of the record, not only was my review queue huge (it always is), but 10 days of Roskilde festival followed by a 2½ week holiday in the US & Canada was looming ahead of me, further delaying the review. After several month's delay, then, here's the review of their three track demo.

As the Bullet For My Valentine-ish artwork already suggests, we are dealing with pretty straight forward metalcore here with a tendency to lean towards the emo side of the genre. Opener "Hearts Got Broken"'s lyrics suggest the same, although instead of screaming, Black Thoughts Bleeding's primary vocalist uses a hollow growl, suggesting that he's not quite used to growling just yet. Keeping in mind that this is only a demo, however, it's probably something the band will fix on their future releases (hopefully). In terms of riffs and hooks, "Hearts Got Broken" has plenty of both, heavily treading into the catchy-territory. It's easy to nod your head to their heavy melodies and sing along to the infectious clean vocal chorus "Now I'm on my way, on my way to you...". And you can bet your life savings on that there are breakdowns in the song.

The second track "Stomachion" goes a little heavier, leaning much more on death metallish twin-guitar serpentine riff instrumentation, although the general landscape, at least vocally, still keeps the band hanging on the edge of the metalcore genre. But make no mistake, this isn't deathcore. Although the song has breakdowns and serpentine riffs put together, it's still distinctly metal while the metalcore element can't be denied. Try wrapping your head around that.

Finally, "Escape" finishes what can be said to be a promising demo/EP with huge breakdowns and great high-octane hooks. The emo-ish clean vocal chorus and instrumentation is probably at its best on this track, leaving a good impression of the band overall. It seems that once the band work a little bit on the vocal department, getting some more power and depth into the growls, and more strength and daring melody into the clean vocals, they've got a metalcore package that's ready to challenge the genre heavyweights Bullet For My Valentine and others on an international plan as well. I'm excited to hear more to this band, and so should you!

Download: Escape
For the fans of: Bullet For My Valentine, I Killed The Prom Queen, Unearth
Listen: Myspace

Release date 01.04.2008
Self-released