Bloodsimple, fronted by Visions Of Disorder vocalist Tim Williams, is a new band that jumped into the Metalcore scene with the release of their first album,
A Cruel World in early 2005. Creating their own unique style of Metalcore mixed with Hard Rock and Nu-Metal, and with extremely political lyrics, Bloodsimple creates their very own Apocalypse America atmosphere. Pounding riffs mixed with harmonic melodies, politics and religion mixed with mental psychosis and self-sacrifice, Bloodsimple is the definition of originality amongst the usual not-so-original Metalcore scene. From start to finish, from the blistering intro of
Straight Hate to the acoustic ending of
Plunder, Bloodsimple’s
A Cruel World has left it’s mark on your typical Metalcore.
Tim Williams, the vocalist, uses a very unique mix of Metalcore screams with Death Metal growls with a very raspy clean voice that he uses frequently in most of the songs on this album. Tim Williams is a good vocalist, but his clean voice can get understandably annoying on some songs, such as
Flatlined. Mike Kennedy and Nick Rowe, the guitarists, are fairly talented, however, what the album as a whole lacks is guitar solos, which would of made the album flow a bit better then the standard Metalcore riffs the guitarists deliver. Kyle Sanders, the bassist, is extremely hard to hear on this album due to the distortion in the guitars. He does however, prevail on the three acoustics,
The Leaving Song,
Flatlined and
Plunder. Chris Hamilton, the drummer, is by far the most talented member in the band. His drums are probably the only thing that holds the music together from track to track on this album (aside from some good guitar work in songs like
Sell Me Out). Overall, Bloodsimple’s music is typical Metalcore with a lot of Hard Rock influences, original, but nothing incredibly special.
A Cruel World starts off with
Straight Hate, a fast, powerful, and the heaviest song on the album, with strong language and upfront straight hate to the Anti-American people of the world.
Path To Prevail is next, featured on the
House Of Wax soundtrack,
Path To Prevail is one of the weakest heavy tracks on the album. Much slower then
Straight Hate, it also lacks the intensity that other songs on this album has. The rest of the heavy tracks,
What If I Lost It?,
Running From Nothing,
Cruel World, and
Falling Backwards all follow similar patterns to that of
Straight Hate and
Path To Prevail.
What If I Lost It? and
Running From Nothing are probably the best of the heavy tracks (aside from
Straight Hate), in which Tim Williams starts to use his clean voice more often then not.
Cruel World is also a good track, and the most political. With lyrics like “
Enslaved in the name of democracy, the age of distrust and hypocrisy; Unemployed living in poverty, it makes me sick to witness; It’s kill or be killed on the street”, you know that Tim Williams is trying to open the minds of the people who could care less about the society in today’s world.
Blood In Blood Out is probably the most obscure, fast, hard, and hateful song on the album that pretty much says “F**k you” to all who fit it’s upper-class ridden society description.
Sell Me Out, by far the best song on the album, is the most Hard Rock influential song compelled in this aura of fury. The song also deals with more personal issues of the common man, and doesn’t seep into the politics and religion that much. None of the three acoustics,
The Leaving Song,
Flatlined and
Plunder, are very impressing. All are only moderately catchy and for the most part, boring. The tracks are also too slow for the album, unlike
Sell Me Out, which could be considered an acoustic, in which keeps up the pace of the album very well.
Falling Backwards, the last heavy track featuring Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray, is a moderately well made track that tends to lose it’s flow through out the song.
Falling Backwards is also another “F**k you” tracks to the corruption in government and poor society in general.
Plunder, which ends the album, is by far the best of the three acoustics, and unless you can’t stand Tim Williams raspy clean voice, it is the most catchiest song on the album and overall a good closer.
Pros
-- Tim Williams’ has an excellent Death/ Metalcore vocal style
-- The music and lyrics together create a very interesting and unique atmosphere that fist the message Tim Williams is trying to deliver.
-- Straight Hate, Sell Me Out, and Cruel World
Cons
-- Tim Williams’ clean voice can get understandably annoying.
-- A lot of the songs tend to fall apart near the end.
-- Overall the album doesn’t flow very well at all.
-- If you prefer to stay out of political and religious topics, you’d prefer to stay away from this album.
-- The album loses heaviness as the CD progresses.
-- Path To Prevail, The Leaving Song, and Flatlined
Track Listing
1. Straight Hate (5/5)
2. Path To Prevail (1.5/5)
3. What If I Lost It? (3/5)
4. Blood In Blood Out (1.5/5)
5. Sell Me Out (5/5)
6. The Leaving Song (1/5)
7. Running From Nothing (3/5)
8. Cruel World (5/5)
9. Flatlined (1/5)
10. Falling Backwards (2.5/5)
11. Plunder (2.5/5)
Overall Rating: (3/5) *The good tracks make up for the bad ones
