ALBUM REVIEW: Bleed Red – The Five Hundred
Perplexing: to be puzzled or bewildered over what is not understood or certain. It’s also the adjective du jour when it comes to Nottingham/Gibraltarian quintet THE FIVE HUNDRED, but that should not be interpreted as a slight by any stretch of the imagination.
Recent years have witnessed a tsunami of bands flooding the UK tech-metal scene, and the genre is thriving. That said, influx leads to saturation – and the inevitable pressure to distinguish oneself from the slew of over-rans in your midst. The band’s abject refusal to sink and unwavering desire to swim manifested itself artistically via ferocious EPs Winters and The Veil, alongside an innate ability to deliver live performances so resplendent that they border on indecent. Yet somehow, they’ve continued to fly under the proverbial radar evading mainstream attention – until now that is. For any confusion over THE FIVE HUNDRED‘s absence from the upper echelons of modern metal looks set to be extinguished with debut full-length Bleed Red.
Technically proficient and driven by palpable fury underpinned by searing emotion, Bleed Red showcases a collective voice. Opening on the title track, THE FIVE HUNDRED push moments of emotional clarity through a seemingly perpetual darkness with frontman John Eley using his vocal chops to create worlds of contrast as he veers seamlessly between larynx-shredding growls and sublime clean lines. Employing gang vocals and melodic parts may allude to a penchant for unabashed clichés, but the visceral stampede that spills forth dispels any notion that this is merely paint-by-numbers metalcore.
This statement of intent continues in a similar vein with Smoke and Mirrors delivering a sprawling cornucopia of slamming riffs alongside a soaring, anthemic chorus. Alternately bludgeoning and intricate, the track paints a troubled vision; chugging, percussive repetition and melancholic textures laying a foundation for those impassioned roars before a huge rhythmic shift mid-track gives way to djent-spliced grooves reminiscent of Obzen-era MESHUGGAH. There’s little time to pause for breath as the preceding anthemia is swiftly toned down – schizophrenic juggernaut Oblivion extinguishes any sparkle with an unsettling blend of delirious melodies and complicated yet compulsive fretwork courtesy of Mark Byrne and Paul Doughty.
With the exception of lacklustre The Noose (its reluctance to fully come out of the box and take that dynamic leap of faith) the latter half of Bleed Red surges further forward delving into the darkest recesses of the psyche. Both Reclusive and Seduced by Shadows pack riffs by the bucketful whilst the battering ram-type savagery of I Am The Undead marries pace and blackened blasts of extremity. It is however, album highlight The Narcissist that ultimately illuminates the five-piece’s sonic dexterity. Proving to be equally comfortable with electronica-inflected atmospherics as they are with life-affirming guitar crescendos, this five-minute kaleidoscope of shimmering keys, hair-raising orchestrations and colossal sounding drums nods to both Sempiternal-era BRING ME THE HORIZON and ARCHITECTS. Eley’s anguished cries of “Your apathy never cuts through / Carved from empty words / A heart of stone” read more like grief-laden poetry than simple lyrics and have the power to unite and induce singalongs in a live capacity. Closer Circles doesn’t quite reach the emotive pinnacle of the aforementioned, but it’s brooding melodies juxtaposed by an expanse of doomy riffs complement rather than confound – ensuring symbiosis in the record’s final moments.
Harnessing anthemic clout and technical proficiency, THE FIVE HUNDRED may not reinvent the wheel in terms of genre conventions with this full-length debut, but Bleed Red remains a convincing statement from a band now brimming with self-belief.
Rating: 8/10
Bleed Red is set for release on August 17th via Long Branch Records.
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