Blessthefall - Awakening.

This is the third album from the American metalcore crew Blessthefall. Having not been terribly au fait with their previous output, I am in a good position to review this record without any prior expectations. Plus, after running out of minutes on my free Spotify account by listening to anything Metallica put out in the 80’s to erase “Lulu” from my memory, it’s nice to listen to something new and modern that isn’t awful.
Upon first listen, “Awakening” is a harmless album built for people who like their verses heavy and the choruses angelic. There are plenty of riffs running through opening tracks “I’m Bad News, In The Best Way” and “The Reign” to keep you nodding along pleasantly. The singing is a little too saccharine coated in my opinion, you can’t really blame them, being from America and everything, but no doubt will please the legion of scene kids who will no doubt take to this like methadone to the recovering heroin addict.
The album unfortunately hits it peak at track three. “40 Days” carries a chorus so catchy it warrants repeat listening, however the record fails to reach this point again despite many attempts.
Metalcore is a funny ol’ genre. For every Killswitch Engage there is a Shadows Fall. And without it we wouldn’t have the whole Deathcore scene which seems to be so big right now. Blessthefall attempt to recreate some of Bring Me The Horizon’s now trademark “cut and paste” moments and gang vocals, and to be fair have the advantage of having an actual American singer instead of some skinny Sheffield bloke recreating the Yank accent, though they don’t pull it off quite as well as the aforementioned northerners, in my opinion.
“Till The Death Of Me” is another stand out track, however it’s only really a stand out as it doesn’t sound too much like every other track on this album. I think that’s a good thing.
At this point, the album has pleased by not sucking. These guys are really talented, and the guitar work is second to none, however there is a lack of originality in this record which becomes obvious about halfway through. It is the copying of what other bands in this genre do, and do slightly better, that starts to piss me off. In 2011, do we really want another band that sounds like KsE meets A Day To Remember meets Taking Back Sunday with a few guitar solos thrown in for good measure? Surely there are legions of bands who could fill this gap already?
The idea of a 12 minute outro track really got my interest back, and the song itself has a lot more variation and new ideas than the rest of the album. Ambient interludes and digital drumming break up the song quite nicely, however once again BMTH have been doing this for years now, and have done it a lot better. When BTF cop out by throwing a good 5 minutes of unnecessary silence at the end I got pissed off. Like, really quite pissed off. What was the point?
All in all, Blessthefall are a harmless young Christian metalcore band, and no doubt will make big things from themselves by standing on the shoulders of giants, it’s by no means bad, but it’s just not really that good. This is just very, very, very painfully average. Which can often be worse than utter shit.

Blessthefall – Awakening is available now via Fearless Records.

Times Of Grace - Willing.

Adam D and Jesse Leach of Times of Grace have dropped new video Willing and announced their replacement touring bassist at the same time. In keeping with the strong imagery from the special edition of the new Times Of Grace Album “The Hymn Of A Broken Man” the video is available to view on Youtube and is embedded below
Hitting the road for a series of warm up shows and a set at Junes Download Festival the band has teamed up with Shadows Fall guitarist Matt Bachand to round out their lineup and serve as touring bassist. Adam and Jesse have a long standing relationship with Shadows Fall with the band touring with Killswitch Engage (where Adam and Jesse’s partnership originates) and both bands coming from the burgeoning Massachusetts metal scene of the early ’00s. When you consider the history of both bands it makes perfect sense for Buchand to step up to the plate. Buchand is taking over from Daniel Struble(originally a member of KsE labelmates Five Pointe O) who is unable to join the band due to personal matters.
“Losing Daniel was a blow to the Times of Grace camp, but we knew he had to do what was best for him and his family,” said Leach. “Having Matt show interest in joining the touring lineup could not have been a better fit! I have been a fan of Matt’s voice and guitar work for many years. I am honored and very stoked to have him join us on tour to play bass and sing backup vocals. Matt is a great guy, and someone Adam, Joel and I have all known for years. Personality-wise and as a musician, it clicks so well. I am certain Matt will add a great vibe and bring his own style to the live show!”
Bachand concurred, saying, “I am very excited to be a part of Times of Grace. Not only will it be great to get onstage with some old friends, but I am looking forward to something new musically as this role as bassist will be a very different experience from my role as guitarist of Shadows Fall.”

Full UK dates include;
Tue 7th June – COLCHESTER Arts Centre
Wed 8th June – PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms
Fri 10th June – DONINGTON Download Festival (Pepsi Stage)

The Latest Download Poster

Those folks behind Donington’s Download rock festival are asking for your creative input in return for the chance to win two free tickets and Guest Area passes to this June’s event. Download Festival is asking fans to submit their designs for an official bumper sticker, which will go on sale in the Download web store and donate a portion of the proceeds to Cancer Research UK. Full details on how to enter the competition can be found in its own thread on the festivals forums.