Reviewed by Greg Sammons

Taking in a healthy mix of musical styles and influences it would be far too lazy to label North Carolina's Bloodline Severed as a band trying to escape their metalcore origins. But to call them black metal, which is clearly where their vocalist takes influence, would also be a disservice to the 'cover your face in corpse paint' brigade (you've been to my church then? Ed). In fact many might find Bloodline Severed's sound a little over-produced, especially once you chuck in the clean vocals, allowing the band to sound too tame in places for true metal fans and far too aggressive for the mainstream metalcore crowd. Somehow, though, they have found an audience, one that clearly doesn't mind their cheesier melodic moments nor their 'sounding like you're being delivered of evil spirits' screeches. The first few tracks really lay out their wares, "Reborn" is a blistering ride and "A Vision Revealed" is perhaps the highlight of the album. But personally I became bored by the same formula being laid out over and over again. For those that really want something meaty but enjoy more easy on the ear crunches to break up the tedium I'd heartily recommend this album, although there is little point listening any further than track four.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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