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An album that makes Thrash/Metalcore somewhat relevant again.-
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| Truth Corroded: Worship the Bled |
Metalcore, Thrash Metal
Truth Inc. Records
September 16th, 2011
- Knives of the Betrayed - 5:16
- Hunt All Heroes - 4:00
- Pride of Demise - 4:15
- Leave Nothing Alive - 3:04
- The Great Waste of Flesh - 5:54
- Scavengers - 3:49
- Remnants - 5:34
- Dragged Beneath - 4:26
- Tear Out the Eyes of Your God - 3:33
- Summon Abyss - 7:58
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| Review Information |
Release length: 47:47
Review posted on December 23rd, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 7.5/10 |
 
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Begin (2001) • Our Enemy is the Weapon (2005) • Upon the Warlords Crawl (2008) • Worship the Bled (2011)
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| EP(s): |
Fuel the Chain (1999) • End (2001)
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| Split(s): |
The Devastation / Decimation EP (2009)
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| Demo(s): |
CD Sampler 2000 (2000) • No Mans Earth (2001) • Truth Corroded (2005)
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| DVD(s): |
Truth Corroded Live: 26/09/98
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| Review |
Chances are good that you have never heard of Truth Corroded before. This group is an Australian Metalcore/Thrash act that formed back in 1997, and had the guts to make their first release a DVD covering one of their live performances. Throughout the years that followed, the band wound up continuing the trend of releasing material themselves before putting together Truth Inc. Records, the label that has been their home for releases since 2001. Once again, the band finds themselves issuing a full-length album under that label monicker. Worship the Bled marks the band's fourth full-length offering, and judging by this release, it's rather sad that this group has been hidden to anyone outside their native country for as long as they have.
Worship the Bled comes off as a high production album. The music here does have a clean sound to it, but the audio does allow the heavier edge and deeper tones to seep through into a highly aggressive old-school Thrash meets modern Metalcore sound that puts leaders like Shadows Fall right to shame. The sandpapery shouting vocals push that autoritative, rougher side of the music well, pushing in a great deal of energy into the already intense music being played. The guitars feel like a dull instrument hammering away at the listener with a strong bass support behind them to make the drive into your skull feel deeper, but they often end up being a secondary element of the music compared to the drums. The kit comes through with sheer authority, pounding away on tight, rich snares and loud, dominating cymbals as the bass kicks hold enough of a click that they are heard, but with the rest of the music accompanying them, they end up adding nicely to the bass-driven burdening sound of the album, all leading to a snarling, highly aggressive album that, for the most part, simply takes no prisoners.
The music starts off slow with some throat singing that fades in, growing in richness and even number of participants the longer it goes on before the music interrupts at a slow pace. The gradual progression feels natural to the more intense early Thrash Metal approach of the release, and some of the more melodic chords that come into play give the start a very dismal tone. The pace doesn't really pick up that much, but the music does feel a little richer and definitely a lot heavier with less of the aforementioned dismal hooks. Instead that atmosphere is just fed into the audio through the bass and generally dark, oppressive music the band performs. With the raw Thrash aggression established, "Hunt All Heroes" kicks things up by introducing some Metalcore into the mix, allowing more hooks to be presented, but also giving the track a tighter and more dominating appeal to it that makes the song sound as heavy and fiery as before. The more technical chords that appear during the chorus and between guitar solos really stand out nicely and give it a far diverse offering in comparison, showing the listener that the band is not going to sacrifice any of their unbridled rage for the sake of melody, but it's undeniable that this song makes headbanging a far more mandatory bodily action against some really impressive music that comes to an awe-inspiring intense closing as the music builds to it's climax prior to the mid-tempo chugging closing that feels more at home with the previous track.
But, even though one minute with "Knives of the Betrayed" will show an influence from the earlier, more ruthless sounding Thrash acts such as Slayer and others like them, "Pride and Demise" immediately establishes a slight groove that will remind listeners of Sepultura. The infectious groove of the song will immediately sweep over the listener, though at the same time make he or she wish Max Cavalera were behind the microphone instead, though these vocals still fit the bill. There still are some melodic hooks that remain, but they are very few and far between, and really not necessary in any way to the uncompromising feel of the song. This groove-oriented sound doesn't really last too long, though it does appear again in "Scavengers." This song feels a little more generic compared to others, though the enthusiastic performance from the band does kind of make up for it's lack of a unique identity and carbon copied modern Sepultura sound. It's a little disheartening to hear after "The Great Waste of Flesh." This song brings things back to the more Thrash oriented approach, and the band does a great job capitalizing on the darker atmosphere with an verbally brutalizing layer atop a musical assault that just hammers away from start to finish.
Sadly, not all tracks are as enjoyable as those. There are a good deal of times where the music feels a little on the generic side regardless of how much energy is put into the song. Aside the aforementioned "Scavengers," there's also "Dragged Beneath," which takes more of a Metalcore consideration into mind, but pushes it a bit too far. There are a few tight passages that are pretty good, a commanding sound at certain times that can have your head bobbing along, but overall the track doesn't feel any more unique then any of the aforementioned band's original material. On top of that, the mixture of the two styles here simply doesn't mesh too well, and the additional violins past the half way point really try to set up an emotional atmosphere that feels out of context with the rest of the release, giving a mournful touch that doesn't really need to be there, though the track really has no emotional environment to it outside of that section. Admittedly, that performance may be simple, but it does come off rather beautiful and natural, not as if it were just being performed by someone pressing random keys on a keyboard like many acts would do today, so credit definitely needs to go there for giving it a more life-like sound. This unfortunately becomes the general idea for "Tear Out the Eyes of Your God" as well, though there's no additional instruments added.
This release does close on a bit of an odd-note. None of the songs on Worship the Bled really ventures past the five and a half minute mark, and those close to it are very few, only having three that break the five minute barrier, one of which pushes the six minute mark. But "Summon Abyss" is a song that is nearly eight minutes long. It's an interesting venture that is a slower pace and finds a little bit of a groove to the more Metalcore fueled riffs that often lack a hook to them. The music is just not strong enough to really support such a long track length, and in the end feels a little drawn out before heading into the throat singing approach that slowly faded in to kick off the album.
Truth Corroded do a great job for the most part, and it's sad to know this group simply doesn't have the recognition they deserve. Worship the Bled has a good deal of strong tracks that are well worth experiencing, but at the same time there are a few songs that feel like you'd rather be listening to their obvious inspirations than these "original" compositions. There's a good deal of material that gives off a rather dismal tone to the release that can felt through practically every song, which definitely works to their benefit and helps to make the release more than a traditional mixture of Metalcore and Thrash Metal. If you're sick of hearing nothing but Shadows Fall clones every time you pick up a release of this style, then why not check out Truth Corroded? The tight music and obvious growth from their start makes this a ripe choice to at least sample on a rainy day.
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Physical review copy of this release provided by:
Truth Inc. Records
via Team All About the Music. |
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