ALBUM REVIEW: Maybe In Another Life – Bloom
If you like your metalcore to pack a proper emotional punch then look no further than BLOOM. The Sydney-based five-piece have been great at it for a while now, their credentials firmly established with the release of the genuinely devastating In Passing EP back in 2020, and now with the backing of Pure Noise Records they make a somewhat overdue step up to a debut full-length in the form of Maybe In Another Life.
Coming up on three-and-a-half years since the release of that sophomore EP, and with only a standalone single plus the promotional tracks for this one filling the gap, Maybe In Another Life shows development for BLOOM both musically and thematically. That the focus of vocalist Jono Hawkey’s lyrics would shift seemed inevitable; In Passing was written in the aftermath of the loss of his grandfather and therefore drew pretty much all of its emotional heft from that, whereas Maybe In Another Life turns to broader themes of longing and despair and desperate escapism.
Told through the eyes of a character who is challenged by their own reality, the concept itself feels loose, the album held together more by an overarching sense of melancholy than any specific narrative to follow. Tracks like Siren Song, Carve Yourself Into My Lungs and You & I deal in themes of heartbreak, of manipulation and dependency and relationships slowly growing apart – all to devastating effect – while others wrestle with what feels like the question at the heart of this record, posed by Hawkey in the title track: “Would I still feel this way if I could live another life?”. In a world where so many are so often lost to ‘what ifs’ and the relentless pursuit of distraction, this is where Maybe In Another Life hits hardest – confronting, relatable, uncomfortable and cathartic all at once.
As mentioned, the music has changed a bit too. Essentially, Maybe In Another Life is closer to modern metalcore than it is melodic hardcore, which is a bit of a nitpicky way of saying that BLOOM have gotten heavier. Comparisons to a band like COUNTERPARTS which would have been accurate enough for parts of their previous releases now feel inescapable, albeit with way more clean vocals to complete the ‘heavier but more melodic’ cliché. Most of these tracks have huge anthemic choruses, the main exception being the 71-second Laughing Stock which tears by all raging and savage and violent just when things might be getting a bit too mushy coming off the back of the super emotional Fragments Of A Dream and the aforementioned – and stunning – You & I before it.
Admittedly while some of it may be new to BLOOM there isn’t really anything here that feels particularly new to modern metalcore; harsh verses, big choruses, hard breakdowns, even a few well-placed quieter and more dynamic tracks – as well-executed as these things are they have all been conventions of the genre for some time. But you’re unlikely to find anyone who already likes this stuff who is going to take issue with that, and even if you are a little pickier with this more polished take on metalcore Maybe In Another Life marks itself out as one of the good ones mainly through the sheer emotional weight of it all.
Rating: 8/10
Maybe In Another Life is set for release on February 16th via Pure Noise Records.
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