Search - Withered Earth :: Of Which They Bleed

No rest for the kick pedals

Craig Allen Moore | Austin, TX United States | 02/22/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is an interesting record. When you initially pick it up, the front cover makes it look like any number of semi-metallic bands polluting the rosters of labels like Trustkill or maybe Ferret. Very nice Derek Hess artwork gives this a thematic direction that belies the music on the disc. When you turn it over to look at the back cover, however, you are hit with the requisite indecipherable death metal logo and song titles that one might find on a Suffocation record or something of that ilk. So on to the sounds. Blurbs I had read advertising this release stated that they were a death metal band exploring a grind/noisecore slant and I was intrigued, as it's often worthwhile to listen to bands try something a little outside convention, even if it is their own convention. The production on this monster is absolutely huge, with the guitars snarling away right up front. Very aggressive sound there, but what really seals the deal here is the bass. Everyone into metal knows that the bassist sounds like they usually sit out of the recording sessions, and then the band adds tons of guitar overdubs to thicken it up. Well, one thing I still applaud about the hardcore scene is its reliance on monstrous bass tones to give their recordings a good foundation. These guys took this idea and ran with it, and the record reaps the rewards(to use too many r's). Their style is still very much death, but they throw in all these left turns ala Kiss It Goodbye or Bloodlet and breakdowns that you might hear on a Hatebreed or All Out War record. I for one think this is a great idea, because for every band out there playing at the speed of light, there is a band who doesn't even sound heavy anymore doing so, and I have been disappointed by this for years. Here the hardcore/noisecore riffs break up all the ultra-metal blur and anchor the songs really well. It's almost like a pop hook how memorable these parts are. The vocals are all complete roars and growls, and it sounds good. The vocalist doesn't try to get such a low sound that he loses definition, and the more shouted vocals lend themselves a little better to the breakdowns and such. Speaking of definition, there is a real problem with the drum recording. Many of the blasts are completely lost in the mix, due to either too much compression overall or the drummer not getting his snare turned up enough. It's really a shame because the technicality of the musicians here is quite enjoyable. Maybe it's the bass drums. They just don't really let up very often and they are louder on this record than many I've heard in a long time. This isn't always good, but at least the drummer knows how to do it well. As stated in the title, the double kick pretty much rules the roost, but it gives the guitars nice space when he lays off.
I think this is a really nice effort. They're combining the best elements of a few different genres and making one hell of a racket, probably playing heavier than some of the best bands they have to share the stage with. I wish they would come to Texas and play."