BLEED - Chaos Impact
Parisian thrash metal band Bleed were founded in 2013. Before that some of its members played in a band called Careless Institute. Despite their being already some bands called Bleed, they opted consciously for a simple and catchy name. The fact that it took them three and a half years to come up with their debut album Chaos Impact was due to several line-up changes.
Bleed are not influenced by the thrash metal revival and take their cues rather from modern bands like Machine Head, Lamb Of God, Soilwork and the likes. And yet they don’t limit their sound to typical thrash metal riffs, but are also open to other styles. After the short and gloomy intro, they immediately get to the point. Time To Bleed is a track full of pace changes. Next to countless riff attacks, they also know how to lower the pace to bring down stomping rhythms. Three members share the vocals, which is a really smart move. You’ll hear brutal growls, hysterical shrieks but also clean vocals as you know them from the nu metal subgenre. The two guitars are playing precisely but also the rhythm section has quite an impact on the sound. On Retaliation the band even flirts with metalcore parts. Prohibited has some death metal flavour, and the title track, although being an unstoppable steamroller, surprises towards the end with some slower moments that remind of Metallica.
Chaos Impact is one of the most brutal thrash metal albums I have heard in a long time. You’ll get uncompromising thrash metal from the beginning to the end, but as there is also a lot of variety, the music never ceases to impress and should be recommended to fans of the more aggressive side of metal.