Review by Jeger on February 14, 2025.

Metalcore? There's no place for it in today's staunch true metal climate. Bands are getting back to the fundamentals of creating metal in its purest forms again, and it's been so for a while now. Metalcore was an option for people who admonished true metal back in the early '00's. People who bought into the ridiculous notion that metal wasn't cool anymore had metalcore or nu-metal to choose from. Those with a sliver of taste went for metalcore. It had its upsides: breakdowns, metal-influenced parts and aggression. It's always been my opinion - despite metalcore being an embarrassment for the most part - that Orange County, California's Bleeding Through have always been the most legit and dignified band within the sub-genre.

I was watching a DVD back in the day. It was the 2003 New England Metal & Hardcore Festival featuring the likes of Lamb of God, Nevermore, Lacuna Coil, Bleeding Through and more. During an interview segment with Bleeding Through, frontman Brandan Schieppati stated in so many words that he would beat up Fred Durst if he ever saw him on the street. My kind of guy, but what stands out most about Bleeding Through is the grandiose nature of their sound. Keyboards, souped-up engineering and six members who all contribute to such a scene-dominating scourge of brutal/epic music. On February 14, Bleeding Through will release Nine via SharpTone Records.

Yes, it's a long series of breakdowns with various black and death metal influences peppered in. It's pristinely engineered and aggressive as fuck metalcore. The singing sucks but when does metalcore singing ever not suck? But fuck is this thing heavy! If you get off on big FAT riffs, a myriad of percussive styles and the kind of epic experience that only a band of veterans like these guys can provide then by all means pull up a chair. This is for the pit, for black eyes and for total chaos… But if you're like me and you outgrew this music long ago then there's still much to appreciate, but I'm not in my twenties anymore, so I no longer run on whiskey and breakdowns. I appreciate the album's black metal nods, particularly during "Gallows", and just the overall Cradle of Filth gothic vibe that can be felt throughout the entirety of this thing. Some melo-death riffing, DM grinds and even some subtle symphonic elements redolent to Septicflesh to gaudy shit up a bit. Hang the engineer. It's loud and clear if you're into that sort of thing, but it just has this manufactured feel to it that saps some of the brutality from the music - "Our Brand Is Chaos" - a would be savage cut if not for such childish engineering.

This is a LOT of metalcore to digest. A lot of bass-dropping, blast-ridden, breakdown oozing and lame as fuck in the chorales department metalcore. Fellows God Forbid make a contribution to "Lost In Isolation". Could've been something special here. Aside from a pillars-crumbling breakdown and some fancy guitar solos, not much to write home about. Not really feeling the female cleans either. This is turning into a convoluted experience, much like one of those shitty Therion type symphonic metal albums. Another group from this particular school of metal takes a shot at making this a decent album. Shadows Fall; a reunion of washed up bands! Let's get Chimaira in there and really spice shit up a bit. You can dress it up all you want, but it's still a contemporary metalcore disaster of a record. Okay, not quite a disaster, but definitely an album fit for emos and Underoath fans.

Nine is a brutal album, and it will definitely appeal to dudes in their twenties who yearn for the pit. Keyboard accents in the form of piano tones keep things elegantly interesting and the overall atmosphere is haunting. Bleeding Through went for the jugular here and if every track on the record was more like the closer, "Unholy Armada" then these guys would've really hit the mark. The closing track is a wisely-put-together cut that's made up of fundamental parts; balanced and not over the top like the rest of the album. A superb melodic and form-fitting solo only sweetens the deal.

Let the metalcore resurgent early '00's jerk fest commence! There's a big market for this stuff nowadays and if I said that a small part of me isn't tickled I'd be lying. Reminds me of the old days of hard liquor, shitty weed, PS2 and breakdowns. Nine is an okay balance of old-school sentiment and contemporary mumbo-jumbo, but these geezers of the scene really need to try and tap into something organic instead of trying to make the most epic metal album possible. That's enough already…

Rating: 6.5 out of 10