4 of 4 thought this review was well writtenThe Earth Bleeds is a two-man metal project, amongst other influences, that has spawned their first bastard child into the world, even so into a world stockpiled with clichés and redundancy. Being a new band naturally there is a lot of heavy ground to cover, but with this 3-track EP Keepers Of Values, the first of a trilogy (concept?), The Earth Bleeds knows what they want to do, plus it’s made by our own beloved Benzum…and some other dude.
Overall the production fits the music well. It’s dirty, yet refined, like a poor man’s bronze toilet. From the first song you’ll notice how it complements the style as well as the blackened death vocals. If it was produced any better it wouldn’t sound as..right. The style is very Dark Tranquillity-inspired, yet again more blackened and natural. The key sounds are a mix of string ensembles and twinkling effects that, when mimicking a guitar line, are used atmospherically while otherwise incorporating a few melodic leads here and there. The music as a whole rarely stays in the same key for too long at a time, which helps keep things interesting. If I’m not mistaken, The Earth Bleeds use a drum machine, but it sounds worthwhile for being fake; surely the production helps hide this but either way it works in their favor since it has no negative effect.
While all this is good and fun, the general sound makes it hard to tell apart the tracks from each other. Whether or not that is intentional is unknown, but what could help them in the future is a way of somehow differentiating the tracks while maintaining an overall cohesion. Another thing that has potential to be an issue in the future is falling into a playing style, which can be solved by using new influences, experimenting with tunings/key sounds/tempos/key signature changes/etc. If The Earth Bleeds can improve on this then their potential as a serious project can grow.
