Review Summary: Another fall for Rise Records.
Out of all the instruments on earth (excluding drums), the keyboard is probably the one that has most influenced multiple genres. The keyboard/synthesizer could honestly be witnessed in any genre out there, from jazz to funk to metal to hardcore. Speaking of hardcore, back when the keyboard keyed its way into the post-hardcore scene, it was widely considered a gimmick. Bands like The Devil Wears Prada, Underoath, and We Came As Romans crammed as many synth leads as they could into their music, for a fundamentally negative result. Some loved it, while others just accused the bands of fusing two genres that should never have been fused. What does this have to do with post-hardcore/metalcore group Oh The Blood? Like the bands mentioned above (except for Underoath, and arguably TDWP), this band belongs in a poster on a scene kids’ wall or on a discount CD rack.
The entire record is average. Every aspect of it has been performed and over-performed by other bands: the synth leads, guitar chugs, and screams from TDWP, the clean vocals of WCAR, and the slight pop sheen of early AA. Because of this, it’s easy to get bored very fast with this record. Every song starts to sound the same after a while, and there’s only so much open chugging and autotune that one can tolerate. The synth gets annoying after the first song, and doesn’t feel necessary at all. The vocalist is capable, granted, but due to his generic performance, he doesn’t stand out much more than his other band-members. Both guitarists just stick to typical palm-muted riffs and tremolo leads, never venturing into the territory of the unknown or really even trying to innovate. The bassist isn’t audible and the drums only jump out at you on one track (“Heartbreak”, which is quite possibly the best song on the EP).
To their credit, the boys do try and innovate a little. Though it sounds torn from the Maylene and the Sons of Disaster playbook, the southern-flavored breakdown in “Faith vs Fate” is a bruising change of pace. The cleanly-picked intro of “What Society Calls” is another fresh gulp of air in this oxygen-deprived, carbon-dioxide rich environment, but that’s really about it. Lyrically, the guys are generic once again. Every song pretty much just laments over lost love in a diary-style fashion, so there goes any hope of lyrical maturity.
Other than those few positives, this really isn’t worth picking up. From the Risecore-style album art to the blatant “we sound exactly like these other bands and we don’t give a crap” attitude, stay as far away from this band as you can. A waste of talent and money.
