Bleed : "Somebody's Closer

 This is not the first time it felt like we were cycling into a retro 90s come back, This Texas band helped solidify this hunch. They have a very hard alt rock sound, to be more precision, the kind Helmet fined tuned in order to get radio play. There is enough crunch and edge to it to appeal to someone like me, who normally listens to things on the harder side. This is tempered with melody and hook, without the blatant nod in the pop direction that modern bands do. These guys are not the first band I heard to pull from this sort of thing. I am crossing paths with it more frequently these days. 

The second song has a fair amount of groove, while colliding the chords in a way that allows the vocals to gain a more shouted heft to them that is way more Helmet. But if these guys were merely a Helmet tribute band I would find myself instead clicking back into my computer to find what file those albums are in rather than giving this repeat listens to fully digest. With the 90s there also came nu-metal and some of the groove have that kind of bounce to it though more fluid and devoid of any and all traces of hip hop. "enervation" has more of a Deftones feel to it , with a more soaring sonic atmosphere, and room for the vocals to hover over the the guitars. 

The title track closes out the album.  They staples the built the other songs around, like melodically dead pan vocals and staccato guitar riffs are all in place. However none of it captures the magic like the first three songs. Not that this is a bad song. It has more energy than every other song except the opener and a cool melodic break. Aside from that I just do not connect with it like the other songs. While I am interested in what they might have done on a full length album, more songs means more chances for this formula to grow stale, so that remains to be seen. I will round this down to a 9 and see how it sits with me, but 9 is better than mpost which is impressive consuidering how this band wears its influences on their sleeves while managing to make this work.    

2,9