Trigger the Bloodshed The Great Depression
by Matthew Hoffman
Staff Writer
Formed in Bristol, United Kingdom in 2006, Trigger the Bloodshed are a heavy death metal concoction that leads the NWOBDM (New Wave of British Death Metal) into the 21st Century.
Their second full length album after their 2008 release Purgation is entitled The Great Depression and is out now on Metal Blade Records.
The boys as stated earlier with the Carcass reference use many tenets of the Grind-core death metal genre. Their medical names and heavy riffing are tremendous homage to their English predecessors.
Metal Blade promos have them being “the future of death metal,” giving these boys and this release especially more pressure than a little bit.
So let’s discuss first what this release is. It is a brutal assault on your aural senses. From start to finish the boys hammer hellacious heavy riffs, sickeningly brutal drum lines and retarded sick vocals.
What it’s not is the best thing since sliced bread as they have missed out on the most important part of the grind-core/death metal formula, the lead guitar parts. The first time you notice any lead work in fact is the eighth song “Dessicate Earth” where Rob Purnell rips through a short distortion filled solo.
The choice of mixing it dirty also troubles the old school purists as many of their predecessors mixed it clean and made sure the drums and guitar were not lost in the “muck and mire”(think Carcass Swansong).
So here lies the rub, should we compare them to the best of the genre’s history of believe their label and view them in a pioneering light for the death metal scenes future. If we do the latter and celebrate their special, heavy, nasty and very aggressive skills without “enough” spirited guitar leads within a dirty mix, then as mankind is want to do, we shall rue the future.
So it is with this conundrum front and center that the band receives the recommendation for purchase with one large caveat: next time don’t ignore the dynamic brilliance and sheer necessity of advanced guitar work and mix it clean which will highlight the musicianship much better.
Label: Metal Blade
Band Members
Jonny Burgan -Vocals
Rob Purnell -Lead Guitar
Martyn Evans -Guitar
Max Blunos -Drums
Dave Purnell -Bass
Track Listing
1. The Great Depression
2. Warbound
3. Sanctuary of the Wretched
4. The Scouring Impurity
5. The Dead World
6. Interlude – I
7. Contemporary Perception Narcotics
8. Dessicate Earth
9. The Infliction of Tophet
10. Disfigured Anonimity
11. Terminus
HRH Rating: 7.8/10