Bleeding Through

“The Truth” (Trustkill)

Compare to: Killswitch Engage, Avenged Sevenfold

REVIEW: 2 / 5

In short: The new album from metalcore’s “next big thing” turns out to be a big disappointment.

A few years ago, when combining the burly breakdowns of hardcore with the dueling guitar heroics of heavy metal was still a novel idea, Orange County sextet Bleeding Through stood out from the pack. The band was one of the first of its kind to incorporate European metal-derived keyboards into their sound, coating the abrasive music in a layer of gothic darkness.

In theory, Bleeding Through should still be leading the U.S. metalcore scene with “The Truth,” but instead has delivered a flawed album that fails to live up to the promise of the previous disc, 2003’s “This is Love, This is Murderous.” Although it is obvious the group was looking to take its music in a mainstream direction, it has made its weaknesses readily apparent in doing so.

The main problem with “The Truth” is frontman Brandan Shieppati’s singing. Shieppati possesses a formidable growl, but his attempts at crooning, as he does on track “Line in the Sand,” make him sound like a cross between Glenn Danzig and a dying cat.

These vocal missteps ruin an album already marred by generic song structures and a glossy production job. All in all, “The Truth” is far from the monolithic album longtime fans were hoping for, but it will undoubtedly raise the band’s stock in the metal mainstream.

-Joshua Haun