Band:	As We Bleed
Album:	Hail The Sick Ones
Style:	Hardcore
Release date:	June 2010
A review by:	Thryce

01. Hail The Sick Ones
02. The Die Hard Manifest
03. The Slow Motion Neuronic Apocalypse
04. Doomriders In The Temple Of Fake
05. (Forever Sworn To) The Black Lodge
06. Don't Fear The Song Of A Living Dead
07. Death Of A Believer, Rebirth Of A Fallen
08. Beholders Of The Great Emptiness
09. Nothing More To Say
10. Wasting Away [Nailbomb cover] [bonus]

Thrash metal/Hardcore
Recorded: Boss Hog Studio, France 2009
Label: Marvel Music Motion
Total Running Time: 42:10


As We Bleed just released one of the most unconventional thrash metal albums in recent memory... mark my words. This (hardcore-induced) thrashing album is just packed with peculiarities and surprising sights, and with every spin there is more to tell.


What the fuck? #1 The fuck kinda name is As We Bleed? Being such a bright and nifty ensemble, the band really could have picked a better moniker to go by. If you were expecting third-rate metalcore/deathcore a la As I Lay Dying, As We Fight, As Blood Runs Black and As My First Pubes Grow, you're way off base. Never judge a book by its yadda yadda yadda.

What the fuck? #2 This stuff is nothing like the kind of aggressive or violent thrash as you may know it from countless other bands. As We Bleed are different. As We Bleed are oppressive. This music is plain ominous, coming on the verge of wrenchingly uncomfortable - a feeling not easily acknowledged to thrash.

What the fuck? #3 The absolute leading roles in this play of disruption are given to the dual psychotic vocals. Wouldn't be too surprised if they recorded those in an asylum for the criminally insane. These are the kind of crazed screams that can make you so uneasy everything else sounds like Christmas. Often times they bear a strong resemblance to the hair-rising vocals of the most insane band of them all, Khanate.

What the fuck? #4 With a delicious sense of disorientation, the heavy rhythms keep chugging along. Hail The Sick Ones is polyrhythmic, almost slightly spastic, suitably dissonant and vulgarly noisy. But still pleasantly thrashy! Add an unblemished production and you have an album you should be checking out by now.

What the fuck? #5 The album basically ends with en epic nine-minute track that is both brooding, foreboding and mentally pulverizing. Riffs are as thick as tar and the atmosphere as pitch-black as Satan's stool. A nice summary of the entire thing, one would say. And then there's a sort of bonus song, a delightful cover of Nailbomb's "Wasting Away" that turns out to be a certified asskicker.

What the fuck? #6 Starting out as a more hardcore-in-the-vein-of-Converge oriented band, As We Bleed have been releasing material for a decade now. That's ten years for all you geniuses out there. Ten! The reason why no one ever picked this band up remains a bewildering mystery to this day.


Mindfuckingly good album.