Ah, melo-death. Or melod-eath. Or melodic death metal, to give the full, potentially oxymoronic name. Sometimes it feels as if there are more of these bands crowding Myspace than there are pointless celebrities doing cocaine. Watch Me Bleed could arguably be added to this ever-growing list, although you’d have a pretty good argument on your hands; while the holy land of Sweden gets a good worshipping, there’s also a few other elements that jostle for your attention, and sometimes not in a good way.
First off, the good parts: ‘Souldrinker’, for the most part, is a very well played album. You’re not short of technical excellence, with pinch harmonics flying all over the place and sweetly harmonising guitars in the Stockholm tradition. Then you can also add a bit of groove to the mix, a tag-team of dedicated vocalists to sweeten the deal, and you have the perfect mix. Right? Wrong.
It’s not that it’s especially bad, but you get the nagging sense it isn’t quite hanging together as well as you’d like. It all starts off promisingly with ‘Rise’ and a thuggish modern sound, but you quickly realise not enough is made of the duo vocalist approach: not enough is made of their different tones, although the gang vocals do give a lift to lyrics that would otherwise seem rather tired and hackneyed – a technique that doesn’t last. By halfway through, you could be forgiven for feeling pretty jaded. The tendency to rely on heavily melodic choruses, rather than letting the musicianship breathe, means that you get the feeling the invention seems spread rather thin. That’s not to say the album without highlights; ‘Burn Down Hope’ is a runaway highlight; shorn of a rigid adherence to melody, Watch Me Bleed instead using their dual vocal attack to highlight the strengths of such an approach. The sinuous riffing locks in tighter than Pete Doherty’s grip on a crack pipe to the drumming, recalling Pantera in their ‘Great Southern Trendkill’ era.
Ultimately, though, this is not a terrible album. You just get the nagging feeling after the last track that nothing has really sunk in, which is a shame really, as the last track ‘The Bleeding Chalice’ takes the time to slow things down, and build a solid introduction during its seven minute running time. It’s time well taken, since their talent really begins to shine through on something that stretches them into a more progressive direction. If they build on this potential, then they’ll certainly become something to keep your eyes on.
http://www.myspace.com/watchmebleed667
