The Awakening

On their website Black Bleeding state, “We started playing in 1999 but this is the new 2003 line-up... so fuck the past.” Alright, let’s move the fuck on into 2005 and their new demo “The Awakening” made up of 5 new tracks and 5 live songs. While the live songs on this release are solid in sound and production the focal point of the review will be the new tracks.

From the opening notes of “The Sleeper Has Awakened” the listener is gonna know that this is not Brutal Death Metal. If I’m wrong then I’ll never listen to Abysmal Torment and Liturgy again. No what we have in the music of Black Breeding is a hybrid of Melodic Death (Not pussy extreme melodic like Arch Enemy), and Thrash with hints of Black Metal riffing for trance like states of mind. Actually, the band these guys sort of remind me of is Kronos out of France. Black Bleeding is less technical but the creativity and potential to be on the Kronos level are evident.

Each song never fails to have a head bouncing melody, and Alexandre Pomes on guitar is an abominable freak. The bass and vocals are done with skill by Julien Marchand. Meanwhile Balmuzette slams away on the drum kit with a style that always makes me wonder if they bolt the kit to the floor to keep it from disintegrating. This music is filled with enough rhythm variance and melody blended with sheer heaviness to keep the listener in the mood to kick some metalcore pussy in the head.

To understand what I’m getting at listen to “Demonic Quantum Boundaries.” The song begins with a simple guitar melody that takes me back to some 60’s stoner stuff by Cream or the Doors. This is offset by amoral vocals and overcome when the bashing kicks in at 57 seconds. From that point the song takes on an epic feel that reminds me of my early days as kid wrapped up in post Paul Di’Anno Iron Maiden (They don’t sound like Maiden, but the vibe is grand) crossed into modern Arghoslent. The song ends with an ambient air that is quite nice.

Overall I give this album a recommend to all underground fans looking for something slightly less intense but heavy nonetheless. Hopefully this demo will stir some ears in the labels section of the Metal world and these guys will be able to put out an album soon. Otherwise they can just create a cannibalistic concoction at the butcher store I saw on their other website to earn the extra cash needed to put a future release out independently. Either way, I’m looking forward to hearing from them soon.