Bloodlust

Modern metal has often been mocked for its over-reliance on gimmicky production and the playing being too tight and too mechanical for any soul to seep through. This album, and this band as a whole, do a decent job at walking that line. If modern metal has become completely robotic, this is merely a precursor to that style.

This album's strengths come in the form of a revolving door of riffs and rhythm changes that keep every song engaging. A good example of this is on the A-side, "When Everything Becomes Nothing," where the band runs through dozens of riffs with blast beat drumming and Anthony Gunnelis's haunting vocals. Much of this record can be categorized in the same way: the band constantly shifting from one tempo to another with the drums going absolutely manic behind rather simple guitar riffs. And although this does lead to the songs occasionally lacking coherence, the results are still refreshing compared to how overdone this style would become down the road. Here, the band at least manages to connect these instrumental changes with similar-sounding riffs as opposed to juxtaposing two completely different riffs next to each other.

The drumming does remain a highlight throughout the album's entirety, like on the crushing "Beneath Dying Skies," where the machine gun effect adds to the abrasive nature of the track. This is contrasted nicely with a calmer interlude in "The Black Death and It's Aftermath," which does showcase some aptitude in the track listing from the band. Other than hardcore fans of this genre, most listeners will want the occasional break from the madness that constitutes the majority of the music on this album, so an interlude is honestly a lifesaver from this album falling victim to the monotony of a lot of 21st century metal albums.

What's also inspiring about this album is that the breakdown sections don't take up too much space and are employed tactfully, though Through the Eyes of the Dead did come before this trope became a matter of critique for deathcore. When the band get into breakdowns, though, the results are favorable, like on the sprawling "Truest Shade of Crimson," which even displays a few brief moments of melody. The band's ability to incorporate sounds other than chugging riffs and rapid-fire drumming does add to the listenability of this album, even if these outside influences are few and far between. They are greatly appreciated when they sprout up.

Just as this album lacks any major pitfalls, it also lacks any major highlights, as is the case with much of the music in this genre. Even though the band cycles through tons of riffs and drumming patterns from one song to the next, the band does sound like it's running thin on ideas by the end of the album, and it does feel a little one-dimensional. But even with the lack of sonic diversity, this is still a pretty enjoyable album and certainly a seminal work for modern metal and the tech-death and deathcore scenes that birthed countless other bands.

2005 was a monumental year in metalcore history. It was the year that the genre went through cellular mitosis, and a new genre popped out- deathcore. Now, in my Despised Icon review, I generally went through a lot of the culture that was associated with deathcore back in the day, and while it may not be an entirely complete picture of what the scene was like (I totally neglected talking about emos in metal, which maybe I'll discuss in a JFAC or Abigail Williams review one day), I think it definitely articulates how the scene differentiated itself as a completely separate entity that had been unseen up until that point.

With this album by Through the Eyes of the Dead, you get a good idea of what a "half metalcore half deathcore" band sounds like. Listening to it is akin to watching a cell divide at its halfway point- you can see the two bodies separating, but they're not totally separated. It's still a single entity, but simultaneously moving in opposite directions. Bloodlust takes a far more melodic approach to deathcore, doesn't use incredibly low-tuned guitars, but still manages to have a lot of death metal influence. Much of the traits that makes deathcore bands like Suicide Silence distinctly different from traditional metalcore are simply unseen, but the net sound is still far more death metal influenced than the average metalcore band.

Fortunately for Through The Eyes of the Dead, a lot of the features on this album still shine as brightly today as they did back then. I really wish a lot of deathcore bands incorporated the melodic traits this album uses. There's been a few shining examples, such as Veil of Maya, but most deathcore ultimately went down the route of slamming, breakdowns, and rhythm-centered songs rather than melodically driven songs. It's not always a bad thing, plenty of these kinds of bands feature great musicians, but at times with some of them, you can only think "hm... can these guys actually play a fucking note if their life depended on it?"

On Bloodlust, the guitarists incorporate the natural minor scale and build the songs off of a few main ideas. They're not trying to impress the listener with sheer technical ability, rather they just try make good songs with catchy melodies. It sounds melodically similar to a lot of the stuff The Black Dahlia Murder was releasing with Miasma or Unhallowed, but far more on the core side of things. The band is unafraid of going into breakdowns, but these breakdowns are more reminiscent of metalcore bands rather than deathcore. They don't tune low, so it doesn't have that incredibly beefy slamming feeling that is trademark in deathcore. In general, for a breakdown, I'd prefer the deathcore-style breakdown, but it's really interesting to hear the style played here, because it reflects the time period it was recorded, whereby "deathcore" and "metalcore" hadn't fully separated.

Probably my favorite aspects of this album have always been the vocalist and the drummer. While the melodies are fun and catchy, the drummer does an absolutely awesome job giving energy where it's needed to certain parts. There's not just straight blasting or double bass chugging through long sections. He really goes everywhere on the kit, and loves to use the cymbals for far more than simply a crash effect. It's loads of fun to hear him, and pretty impressive.

The vocalist is by far the most "death metal" aspect of this band, and is easily what separates the band from the entire metalcore genre. He often uses a really high pitch scream that is reminiscent of The Black Dahlia Murder, but isn't afraid to go into deep gutturals. It's distinctly different from the typical "shouting" scream found in metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage or even August Burns Red. I personally love it, and the way it's mixed by increasing the gain of his mic gives a very rough edge to the overall scream.

The only downside of this album is that the mix of the guitars is pretty outdated. At this point, there's a ton of people with a pod, cab sim, and daw who could easily emulate a very similar guitar tone in about a couple minutes. It just doesn't have the sharpness and thickness of tone that is created for more modern metalcore/deathcore albums. It would be really interesting to hear this album re-recorded, for sure. I also wonder if the mix is indicative of the budget that the band had for someone to mix the album, as they were basically starting out when they recorded this.

Overall, I really like this album. It holds a special place in my heart as I was around 13 the first time I heard it, and now hearing it 14 years later is really interesting. It holds up pretty well, I still like a lot of the songs. Again, it's a great album to check out to see what deathcore was like in an incredibly nascent stage, even though the genre spawned in multiple places all with somewhat different styles (but all generally around the same time).

This album certainly is quite good, but I don't think it's as good as most say. Malice and Skepsis are both better albums that are more mature in their own aspects.

I'll start with the pros of the album. The instrumental is very cool. Each riff is so unique and heavy and it plays a major role in constructing the albums sound. What I like so much about it is that it doesn't sound like any other band, and it actually can set itself well apart for what it is. Sadly, you cannot hear the bass as you'd probably expect. Now probably this is the best part. Dayton Cantley is one of the fastest and most consistent drummers I've heard. He has incredible double bass speed and can stay well with the rest of the band.

Now the cons. Anthony Gunnells sadly isn't very impressive. His screams have the anger you'd want, but just no power. It's hard to call it heavy when the vocals don't pack that hard punch. He doesn't have any balls in his voice and Nate Johnson and Danny Rodriguez are definitely more impressive. Fortunately, his range is quite good and isn't one of those boring as screamers that just sticks to one technique. It can also be difficult to hear him because of some sort of vocal distortion that makes them unenjoyable. However, his lyrics are very well written and they keep me interested when I read them. I would like to know what they are about. Another big part that detracts points is the production. It's so unclean and dirty. Also part of why Anthony's vocals sound so distorted.

Another thing I wish was that although it may be eleven tracks for a full length album which is fine, there are only seven actual song songs. At least just seven with lyrics. You have the intro, The Black Death, The Decaying Process. and the outro as the other four that aren't really full songs. Maybe if they made the instrumental songs longer, maybe some vocals in the intro, or a couple more full songs and it would have been fine. The most bland track if you consider it a track is the outro. It's just feedback that follows The Decaying Process which is before it. The feedback just sounds fucking dark and angry which I LOVE, and I understand that it's an outro, but come on add something more to it. At least just one more thing and it's a fucking gold outro.

Musically each song is so different. What i like is the heavy ass intro that gives you that "Oh fuck." kind of feeling. Especially once Two Inches begins, you feel the same way but instead you're like "HOLY FUCK." The instrumental in each song is so climatic and epic sounding yet Anthony seems to kind of ruin it all with his distorted screams. Especially before he starts screaming in Two Inches, you think it's so fucking cool which it is but then you don't expect the vocals to be like that. Another very interesting song i thought was The Decaying Process. It starts with some eerie sounding feedback and then the guitars and drums suddenly come in. Then, Anthony comes in but instead of screaming more than speaking some inaudible words with some fucking awesome voice effect that fits the atmosphere of the song and only makes it sound even cooler and darker than it already is.

Overall, this is a release that you should check out because it is another one of those really good albums that are just low key. Just a couple certain issues but it is not enough to stay away from the album. But I personally recommend Malice and Skepsis as they are much more improved.