Bloodletter
Leave the Light Behind
(Wise Blood Records)
4.5/5
The fourth album from Chicago thrash-metal band Bloodletter has been unleashed, and it’s one not to be missed for any fans of the harder genres.
The group has been around for over a decade, but prove with Leave the Light Behind that they are still brimming with fresh ideas. This time around, Bloodletter boasts strong efforts to combine their classic thrasher chaos with smoother riffs in this collection of 10 new songs.
The record opens with “A World Unmade,” and right out of the gate the guitar melodies are crisp and memorable, with distinct rhythms that ring out clear and thoughtful. The instrumentation melds together with the signature high-speed nature of the band’s previous works, coming together into an exciting tempo that never gets lost in the fray.
To match this energy, Peter Carparelli’s vocals join in with a perfect balancing act of throat-ripping screamo and clear delivery, never sacrificing enunciation for impact. The vocals serve to carry lyrical exploits that blend the spectral visage of otherworldly horror in with a slurry of personal demons, and the result is a beautiful double entendre of the individual and the political.
After bouncing between these ideas throughout the middle songs, the final track, “Night Terrors,” ends on themes of harrowing insomnia, bringing in an isolated, lonely chill to the hot-blooded sounds.
Altogether, Bloodletter’s technical combinations have brought them to new avenues, and the work is a riveting success. By fusing a variety of new elements into the foundation that has carried them for 12 years, the novelty resounds through all aspects of the album.
Leave the Light Behind arrives as a thrilling invitation into the darkness, but one that feels welcoming and exciting rather than harsh and suspicious. Like an old friend you meet at the mosh pit, this album greets you with promise of good times and deeper meanings, and delivers with an unforgettable experience.