BLACK BLEEDING - The Awakening reissue

BLACK BLEEDING - The Awakening reissue

Nihilistic Holocaust




It's getting to the point where I should change the header for the blog to Home of the Reissues since I've been reviewing a lot this month. That's fine of course because then you and I would miss out on past gems that for some reason didn't get their due respect or at least some recognition that fans would want to know about. Case in point right here, BLACK BLEEDING, a blackened death three piece from Belgium but considers themselves a Belgian/ French band. 

The band is not new in fact they've been around since the late 90s and have three full length albums under their belts to show for it. Their most recent was A Bright Future which was released in 2014. This one here, The Awakening, was a demo they put out back in 2005. It was originally released on tape by Nihilistic Holocaust back then. But now the original label has re-released it with new artwork, layout and basically making it look like a semi-decent package. Trust me if you've seen the older cover art then you'll be glad at the upgrade.

Of course I had to go listen to their last two full lengths (the previously mentioned A Bright Future from 2014 and it's predecessor The Great Satan from 2009) to get some feeling because this one predates those two. The Awakening is five songs of which I believe the band was in the midst of a re-branding in order to see where they were headed. The albums that came after this are more melodic which is why this is interesting because on here the songs all have an old school feel, yeah there's melody but also more experimentation. 

This thing opens with "The Sleeper has Awakened", and uses a soundbite from the movie Dune as well. A good send off with savage blackened death riffage, both cavernous and shrieked vocals. After a barrage of sound the band knows how to throw a segue in before the soloing and blast beat attack commences. That same theme carries through on the next three cuts. I'd say " Lord of the Worms" is a punisher. Then we get to cut five, "Demonic Quantum Boundaries" where the band starts off with some psych blues rhythm and whispers but then kicks into overdrive with a hellish assault. The thing ends almost hypnotically with a jam out and them a atmospheric keyboard outro. 

Rating: 4/5

http://nihilistic.shost.ca/Label/moreinfos/moreinfos_blackbleeding3.htm

https://www.facebook.com/beerbleeding

https://blackbleeding.bandcamp.com/