Review of Internal Bleeding

MID-MAJOR MAYHEM

By: Geoff Teach

For twenty-two years now, New York’s Internal Bleeding have been carving out a name for themselves, one ferocious release at a time. Although a layman would surely label the band’s sound as death metal, the band themselves prefer to refer to their own unique blend of death riffs and groove rhythms as “slam”. Defined on the band’s Facebook page as “No mindless grind. No technical noodling”, Internal Bleeding blends calloused themes, merciless composition, and astoundingly abusive tempos to bring their own nightmarish vision of metal to life. Slam may no longer be monopolized by the Long Island outfit (see Devourment, Vomitous, Epitasis, etc.), but as the inventors of the subgenre, Internal Bleeding have returned with the full-length “Imperium” (Unique Leader Records) to remind the globe that they are still the subgenre’s best.

Due out September 30th, “Imperium” is perfectly crafted slam metal sickness from start to finish. No weak links can be found among the nine marvelously produced tracks. Beginning with the neck-breaker, “Fabricating Bliss”, Internal Bleeding hold nothing back in their quest to cause their listeners to move: blast beats, breakdowns, bass slaps...it is all fair game, and it’s flat-out killer. Moving along into the stellar songs, “The Visitant” and “The Pageantry of Savagery”, the band riffs their way through the apocalypse, and although they claim “no technical noodling”, the band’s fret-workers still drop in accents and fills that are complicated and downright tasty. Comprising the “meat” (or middle tracks) of the album, Internal Bleeding take you on a three part journey known as “Patterns of Force”, and while “Act 1: The Discovery” and “Act 2: Plague Agenda” seem to blend together to the point of near boredom, the grinding, grating “Act 3: Aftermath” is conversely one of my favorites on the entire album. Finishing brazenly with “Placate the Ancients”, “(In The) Absence of Soul”, and the badass closer, “Castigo Corpus Meum”, Internal Bleeding have crafted an album that ranks as yet another incredibly fantastic release in a year that has already seen so many. Surely to make an appearance on many a critic’s “Top 10 of 2014” lists, “Imperium” is east coast slam metal magnificence. Preorder yourself a copy today!

Keep it metal, class dismissed!

To check out “The Pageantry of Savagery”, just press play below!