Label : Century Media Records
Review by Tony Cannella
The American metalcore band In This Moment released their last album “A Star-Crossed Wasteland” two years ago. Since then the band has undergone a lot of changes, with vocalist Maria Brink and lead guitarist Chris Howarth the only remaining members from the previous band. Now they are back with perhaps their heaviest, most aggressive and adventurous albums to date titled “Blood”.
The opening 2-minute intro “Rise With Me” is disarming. It has got an eery feel to it, but is just the calm before the storm as the band launches into “Blood”. In This Moment have always done a great job in balancing melody with aggression and “Blood” is no different. Maria Brink turns in maybe her finest vocal performance to date. Her vocals still contain plenty of venom and anger like on the title song and the following song “Adrenalize”. “Whore” is next and turned out to be one of my favorites. This is one of the more different songs on the album. It gets heavy near the middle and has just a huge memorable and catchy chorus and features one of the best lyrics of the year “You love me for everything you hate me for” – just classic! Next is the forceful “Your Gonna Listen”. This is more like classic In This Moment. Maria’s got something to say, and “You’re Gonna Listen”. Other highlights include “Burn”, “Scarlet”, “Comanche” and the odd closing number “11:11”.
In This Moment deserves a lot of credit. They have managed to expand their horizons and not be constrained by the genre many people consider them to be in. They truly do their own thing and with “Blood” they are on the verge of transcending to the next level.
Rating – 88/100
Tracklist
- Rise With Me
- Blood
- Adrenalize
- Whore
- You’re Gonna Listen
- It Is Written
- Burn
- Scarlet
- Aries
- From the Ashes
- Beast Within
- Comanche
- The Blood Legion
- 11:11
Line Up
- Maria Brink – Vocals
- Chris Howarth – Lead Guitar
- Randy Weitzel – Guitar
- Travis Johnson – Bass
- Tom Hane – Drums