Album review: Bleeding Through – Nine

After keeping their faithful waiting seven years for new material, Orange County blackened metalcore mob Bleeding Through are back and as confident as they have ever been. Nine albums into their career (see what they did there?), they once again blend hardcore, metal, and gothic strains and in doing so unleash one of the strongest collections in their repertoire.

It works in their favour that they don't just deliver 11 versions of the same song, rather mixing things up. To this end, the likes of Gallows and Emery are ice-cold, yielding no space for human kindness, while Our Brand Is Chaos busts heads, and Dead, But So Alive is equal parts violent and anthemic. It helps that the record is packed with metallic riffs that their contemporaries may well envy, and the drumming is sublime throughout, frequently breakneck and rarely letting up when it comes to intensity.

After starting to include longtime keyboardist Marta Demmel's backing vocals on their last full-length, this time around she is given an even more prominent role. Ably supporting frontman Brandan Schiepatti's gruff strains on many tracks, on Lost In Isolation and Path To Our Disease she briefly takes centre stage, adding a new flavour to proceedings, one that suits them down to the ground.

They also invite a few friends to play, notably Shadows Fall's Brian Fair on the catchy War Time, and the album's highlight is I Am Resistance, which features Comeback Kid's Andrew Neufeld, making for one of the most fist-in-the-air songs you will hear this year.

Nine albums in, and after more than two decades, the sound may have some new attachments, but one thing remains the same: Bleeding Through are unquestionably still killing it.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Hatebreed, Knocked Loose, Killswitch Engage

Nine is released on February 14 via Sharptone