Bloodlines released “Lotus,” the second single from their upcoming EP “HEVEL.” The EP marries classic metal core with a distinctly progressive twist, and sees the Gulf Coast 4-piece taking cues from bands like For Today, Impending Doom and Convictions.
“HEVEL” was written to address seasons of life, with the band taking inspiration from the biblical book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes uses the word “meaningless” a lot which is translated to “HEVEL” in Hebrew and has a different interpretation. The word hevel in the context of the book means vanishing vapor or smoke. So in essence, Ecclesiastes wasn’t necessarily saying that the work and the seasons we go through in life are meaningless, but rather they are just fleeting, ever changing. Like vapor, here one minute and gone the next.
When Zoli Teglas, former vocalist of Orange County s Ignite left the band everybody thought it is over with the band, me inclusive. Although bassist Brett is the only original member remaining in the band, I am so glad these melodic hardcore institution continued with teasing us on their social media with photos from studio, recording new music and keeping new voice secret, making me guess who the heck is it. We only knew it is not Zoli again. But, I never imagined Eli Santana of Holy Grail would be their choice. This guy has one of the nicest voices I have heard in a long time. This new e.p. contains new song, being title song and great video full of energy and it is so great to have more uptempo hardcore Ignite with energy, melody and great lyrics with superb melodies. The other song is a remake of an old classic taken from debut album. I can t wait for the new album, I have the feeling it is going to be superb.
Beartooth are American melodic hardcore band and this is their fourth album. This new opus contains twelve songs and I had mixed feelings about it prior to listening. Why? Because, as a kid I came from that street punk more oi oriented roots of hardcore and loved my hardcore youth crew and punk oriented with lots of punk and little metal in it. Then, in the middle of the nineties came that so called new school hardcore bands with all that chugga chugga metal oriented riffs and as I also listened to metal in my earlier youth, I embraced bands like Strife, Snapcase, Earth Crisis and similar. Then came that more modern style of hardcore like Beartooth play. But, I really love this band. They play a healthy dose between rough modern hardcore with mosh and metal riffing, but plain old punk rock serves as a platform on which they build their song structures and they do it great. I love the mix between rough and screaming vocals and fantastic melodic vocals. Songs like Devastation, The Past Is Dead and Phantom Pain are my personal favorites, but upon every listening I find something else that makes me smile with satisfaction. Great record indeed!
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 