Bleeding hail from Germany, and are unlike other German metal bands, their style is unique, a blend of countless styles that serves to tempt the listener into more and more of their music. Their sound and their lyrics help paint a thousand pictures, that bring a novel into focus. Their latest album is the aptly titled Elementum.
The first track on the album is When They Come. With its staccato intro, and slowly building riffage and rhythm, a sense of anticipation is created for the listener, as promises are made about what is to come. A brilliant choice for an opening track. Heir To Apostasy is next, the name indicates the thumping, demanding and haunting melodies and riffs that soar and blend throughout the song, adding to the imagery already provided by the opening track. Immortal Projection is a slow and thoughtful song, that has haunting guitar melodies and vocals, definitely a song that would go down well live.
Next comes the aptly titled Paranoia. At nearly nine minutes long, this chaotic and melancholic piece is reflective of what it must be like inside a paranoid mind. The vocals are suitably desperate, ranging from anger, and despair, to joy and sorrow, one of the finest songs on the album. Followed by an absolute belter of a song in Macbeth, based on the Shakespeare play of the same name, solid heavy riffage and determined and soaring vocals detail Macbeth’s quest to claim the throne of Scotland, and the regret that follows. Sense and Science contains sudden staccato riffs, and a good solid declaration of the benefits of science, one can see the crowd loving this song.
The final third of the album opens with Ember, a heavy and thought provoking song, that makes one think of the things going on in the world, and how one can sort them. The title track, Elementum starts with a spoken word intro, before moving into jagged riffs, a solid instrumental and a fitting bridge between the seventh and the ninth tracks on the record. Shipwrecked the final track on the album is a jazzy headbanger and one that is definitely inspiring and would be a live favourite.
Elementum is a solid album and one that has earned Bleeding a new fan, in your writer. If you are a fan of experimental, progressive or heavy music, please buy this record, listen to it and share it with your friends. An album this good, deserves all the attention it can get. 10/10.