Review Summary: I no longer admire you.
Pooling influence from symphonic black metal and blackened death metal, there’s little reason to doubt that
Declaration is Orange County metalcore act Bleeding Through’s greatest achievement as a band. As great as their unexpected comeback album this year,
Love Will Kill All, was, even that doesn’t light much of a candle to this. Coming off its predecessor,
The Truth, their music transformed from a polished metalcore form into a rawer and more cathartic form while still retaining that hardcore-influenced edge they had built up on the four albums that came before it. Given the band’s well-documented issues with Trustkill Records at the time, it’s no surprise that much of the album’s fury is directed towards the label they were working with, and that pent-up anger led to their most furious and emotionally invested release to date. Thus, this is their magnum opus.
The first indication of just how deep singer Brandan Schieppati’s anger stems on
Declaration is within its lyrical content. Admittedly, Schieppati has never been the most inventive lyricist; most of the content on
This Is Love, This Is Murderous as well as
The Truth seemingly stem from the aftermath of a bad breakup. On here, there’s a tad more reason for his vitriol than just women who betrayed him; a few songs are laced with profanity, such as “Orange County Blonde and Blue”, but most are fairly subdued, like those in “There Was a Flood”, “French Inquisition”, and closer “Sister Charlatan” which easily stands alone as their greatest song. Schieppati stepped away from the heartbreak-centric lyricism for the most part and directed his anger at other entities; for example, the aforementioned issues the band endured with Trustkill Records. As immature as a line like “let me scream so you can ***ing hear me” may be, the delivery of said line makes up for it, as well as the fact that those lines are infrequent enough to not lead to issues. Hardcore punk was never known for its profound imagery anyway.
On a purely technical and sonic level, some may refer to this as a notable step back from 2006’s
The Truth, but what
Declaration may lack in technicality and polish, it easily makes up for in pure unadulterated aggression; not to mention, the amount of dynamic range showcased within the compositions of songs among the likes of “There Was a Flood”, “Reborn from Isolation”, and “Sister Charlatan”. Opener “Finnis Fatalis Spei” leads into the title track, alternately titled “You Can’t Destroy What You Can Not Replace”, brilliantly, setting the tone for the tracks to come. “Orange County Blonde and Blue” and “Seller’s Market” bear a resemblance to “Sweet Vampirous” from 2003’s
This Is Love, This Is Murderous, but with a newfound energy and authenticity that surpasses that of what was formerly the album to beat for Bleeding Through. Closer “Sister Charlatan” puts an end to this blackened metalcore masterpiece in all the right ways. By building itself up to the eventual chaos instead of immediately blasting you out of your seat, the song ends up with a climax far more crushing than anything else on the record.
Aggressive and emotive vocals in both clean and harsh form, raw lyrical delivery, as well as a bleak atmosphere mixed with heavier and more authentic instrumentals are what make
Declaration the masterpiece it is within the context of the genre. Even if this never stuck as well for you as it did me, “Sister Charlatan” alone makes this worth at least a cursory listen. Vitriol at their former record label gave the Orange County sextet some well-needed inspiration, something they lost a fair bit of around the time
Bleeding Through and
The Great Fire released and regained when
Love Will Kill All was unleashed; perhaps the chemistry wasn’t there at the time and they needed a break. Regardless, this is a necessary entry for any self-professed metalcore fan’s library, therefore necessitating the rating of “5” as seen above in spite of its imperfections.
