There seems to be quite a strong scene for hardcore in Belgium. Certainly some of the better examples of the style that have crossed my path while running this site have come from that neck of the woods. I would never ordinarily go out of my way to listen to this style, but after getting lumbered with this album to review I have to say it’s not been the horrible experience I had envisioned. The introduction to this is rather misleading; with its maudlin keyboard lines I’d be expecting it to kick in with something more in the Gothic doom vein until it throws me a curveball and we’re taken into the album proper.
These guys clearly have plenty of steam to let off and tracks like ‘New Age Colonialism’ come at you with a real clobber to the noggin. This one shows off some relentless riffage and thud-thud-thudding on the skins while on ‘The Phoenix Will Rise’ you can feel the anger building up slowly on the spoken part on the bridge. ‘A Liar Inspires Some Insecurity, Arguably?’ Seriously, I’m sure I’ve had a spam e-mail with this title, perhaps if I click it will offer me a xxSexChangexx (oh crap, does this sentence render this review NSFW? Oops). Joking aside, this track utilises some neo-thrashing Haunted-esque verses that sweep up into a melodic and catchy chorus. Vocally you can expect nothing out of the ordinary; you know, tough guy asshole throwing his weight around, girlfriend marches up to him and slaps him in the face and the façade breaks up along with his voice in a girlish “Owww, what you do that for?” You get the picture; growl grunt, whine, whine. It’s competently done, and will appeal to the angst-ridden teen crowd fo’ sho’.
The melodies on here are actually rather good, and seem to grow on me a little more than I should maybe care to admit. ‘Interlude’ breaks things up well and takes a sudden apocalyptic slant with its dejected instrumental part that offers a bit of respite against the blunt attack. Blood Redemption have more to offer than your average cookie-cutter core mob, even if it’s not entirely to my tastes. The artwork is also worth a mention; colourful indeed!
http://www.myspace.com/bloodredemptionh8000
