"Maybe you could finally be the one who reaches in and saves me from the flood" - so begins the chorus of 'My Assassin', new single from Arizona boys The Bled's latest effort, 'Found In The Flood'. It's the song you'll have stuck in your head for a week after your first listen; but in a musical age where the word 'catchy' is used as a dirty insult, have The Bled strayed too far from the critically acclaimed path they beat with their debut full-length, 'Pass The Flask'?
The answer, is 'no'. The really striking thing about this album is that the loud bits we all loved from the band's first album are here, but even harder- and the quiet bits we all loved are here too, but more intricate and balanced than ever before. 'Melodic' definitely isn't the word to describe 'Found In The Flood', but it is a step in the right direction. Though the band's new found accessibility will undoubtedly cause some hardcore snobs and scene kids to strike The Bled from their myspace lists, the more careful listener will discover and act that has not watered down, but rather one that has matured.
'Found In The Flood' is an extension from 'Pass The Flask', rather than an unimaginative continuation. It builds on the highlights such as 'Porcelain Hearts And Hammers For Teeth', taking all the good ideas, melting them together, then forging something altogether more structured. Tracks such as 'The Last American Cowboy' have the same brutal verses of old, but are connected and enhanced by the soaring half-sung, half-screamed choruses. New listeners will find aural relief in 'Daylight Bombings', and veterans may be surprised by how the delicacy of the initial guitar and vocal work blends so well with the bitter, rasping later sections of the song.
With the meaning of genres practically buried under a sea of over hyphenation (pop-punk, post-punk, prog-rock, post-hardcore), I will tentatively label The Bled hardcore and wait for the fights to start. No doubt there are as many arguments over this as there are over the notable absence of 'Pass The Flask's almost constant brutality. However, anyone who writes off The Bled because they're grown up and taken their music with them, well, more fool them, because this time around, the discerning listener wins.
