Quite the amazing debut. That is the first thing that comes to mind when listening the the Thine Eyes Bleed EP, 'In the Wake of Separation.' This nine track debut for the Canadian quintet is chock full of intensely intricate guitar work, fairly ferocious vocals, but best of all is the insane rhythm section provided by Darryl Stephens and Johnny Araya (yes, the brother of Slayer's Tom Araya). The album is a good collection of black metal/thrash/hardcore songs, with each individual song having a very strong identity of its own. From the lead track, 'Cold Victim' to the astounding finisher 'Regret Your Fear,' every piece has something memorable about it. The track listing on the EP is :Cold Victim, Without Warning, And Since Forgotten, Live to Die, Corpse You Up, Innocent Ming, Sliver, Consequences Unknown, Regret Your Fear. The lead track, 'Cold Victim' has a very sweet chunk, where the guitars drop out (or mybe just WAY down) leaving the listener with a very grindish sound. It may be the highlight of the song. Throughout the entire album, there are a good number of distortion effects which add a not-so-clean element to the album (in a very good way) allowing a fiercer attitude at times than a clean, polished sound would have provided. Another song with a particularly "kick you in the face" surprise is 'And Since Forgotten.' About three minutes into it, the finale of the song is a very hellbent little solo combined with a subtle increase in tempo. The combination of the two is enough to make any metal head throw the goat. Unfortunately, very few records are flawless, and one of the only aspects of this album which did not impress was the last bit of 'Live to Die,' where melodic vocals try to take over and do a fairly poor job of attempting to do so. The following track though, 'Corpse You Up' is a very bloodthirsty-sounding song with a fair bit of groove and great guitar work (mini solos and breakdowns abound). The rest of the album has a similar sound, but each song remains able to captivate the listener with plenty of new sounds and aspects of metal added to the album. The finale of the album, 'Regret Your Fear,' is absolutely breathtaking. From the frenetic riffage at the beginning to the hardcore sound of the the chorus. The most stunning part though, occurs when about halfway into the song a breakdown begins, but soaring above the crazy beats is an insane solo which (I think) actually passes back and forth between the guitars! The way that the solo syncs up with the breakdown is just nuts. All in all, this is a very aggresive record with a very good sound. I would recommend this to pretty much any metal head, but especially fans of The Black Dahlia Murder, Himsa, Chimaira, and Lamb of God, as the breakdownish metal has the same feel. This is a great debut album.Read full review
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