|
 |
The Gauntlet: Bleeding Kansas |
 |
Bleeding Kansas Album Review
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Tracklist
1. Retract The Altitude
2. Right By Your Side
3. Your Scars Never Heal
4. Feel The Sting From The First Bite
5. Can't Help You There
6. Drowning In A Sea Of Shit - (Reprise)
7. Drowning In A Sea Of Shit
8. My Words, My Voice
9. This Song: Will Fuck You
10. I Want Out Of This
11. Hypocrites, Be Alive Again
12. City Of Angels
13. Let The Heavens Swallow Me Up
14. Dead Under Decor
|
Categorically harsh and dissonant, the overall vibe of Bleeding Kansas' 'Dead Under Décor' gives the same impression as scratchy Black Flag record being blasted over the buzzing whine of an industrial table saw. It's grating, anti-social and often-grungy grooves are quite distant from the sounds of core-oriented music on many occasions. You'll find no Iron Maiden scales or At The Gates mimicry here, so put the notion out of your head. Bleeding Kansas follow no such trends. Kurt Ballou headed up the production of the album, but before you throw up your hands and cry Converge clone, know that the music of Bleeding Kansas is much substantially in tone and defiantly less chaotic.
Often, Bleeding Kansas takes occasion to make a stylistic leap in the right direction, which is, ironically, backward. Drawing from many of the same old school punk rock roots as Refused on opener 'Retract The Attitude', the band appears to embrace the harsh tones that birthed hardcore music moreso than the modern interpretations of their peers.
The Burbank, California quartet delve into gritty, start-stop staggering during 'Right By Your Side', imposing a torn, bitter presence that ends in a mixture of jagged, Page Hamilton-type chord patterns and anguished, raspy, drawn-out barks courtesy of Ben March.
'Feel The Sting From The First Bite' is noteworthy for it's low-toned, RATM vibe, but when the group kicks directly into a short Zep jam, it becomes clear that Bleeding Kansas has done their homework. Balls-out jams like 'Can't Help You There' proves that the band can kick out attitude-filled grooves at a rapid tempo yet remain immeasurably cool in the process. Meanwhile, the artistic creativity of cuts such as 'Cant Help You There' and the clunking, ear-bending sucker-punch of a title track indicates this group is unwilling to make noise for the sake of doing so, instead having a detailed road map that leads to a final, bruising auditory destination.
Review by: Erin Fox
Read Member Reviews
|
|
|
