Nashville's Bled To Submission return with their third EP, Bury Them in the Graves They Dug For You, on Nerve Altar Records. A label known for their stable of noisy power violence and grindcore acts. Bled To Submission carry on that tradition with their truly vile and bitterly dismal style of noise-grind. The band coalesce elements of hardcore, grindcore, power violence, sludge, metal, harsh noise and distill it through pummeling musicianship and focused production. Bury Them in the Graves They Dug For You is the band's love letter to the anxiety and frustration that accompanies the pain of existence and the culture of institutionalized hopelessness in modern America. As well as a declaration of action against the tyrannically oppressive political/economical systems that subjugates its citizens. On par with the "propagande par le fait" approach to revolution that the record's retaliatory title implies, Bury Them in the Graves They Dug For You is unapologetically callous and cruel in its musical delivery. This EP is the most textured and palpable release you're likely to hear anytime soon.
Bled To Submission unleash some dense, abhorrently dark noise on this release. This record is one of the most solid and coherent releases I've ever reviewed. The composition of the songs are so sophisticated and deliberate that the entirety of the EP works as a singularly designed thought. A massive contributor to this is the band's implementation of noise and synth courtesy of bassist Pat Quinn and vocalist Jody Lester, respectively. As far as where the synth begins and the noise ends, I'm not certain. There are a couple of instances of 808 bass drops utilized to emphasize that this massively heavy release isn't afraid to just completely bottom out, because these guys aren't fucking around. But I'm guessing a majority of the synth work is heard on one of the EP's "noise" tracks, "Found, Alone." It features a punchy electronic drumbeat dubbed under what sounds like a literal nightmare, complete with blown out screams, roaring static and the sterile voice-over of a psychological dictation about trauma based phobias. But the cacophony that the noise and instruments create is essential for this 7 inch's success. The songs are saturated with a pressurized hissing that seethes in and out, breathing an air of menace into each track. While also creating an atmosphere of windswept desolation in between riffs. Our only amnesty from this dripping tension is the strident, shrill drilling noise that needles its way through the EP. Performing as both a bitter reminder of the pain of a childhood dental torment that leaves the acrid taste of metal and powdered bone in your mouth, but also as an extension of the guitar work itself.
Guitarists Isaiah Rodriguez's and Austin Strobel's utterly crushing riffs lumber from song to song, lashing out with pinch harmonics and wailing sneers, only to erupt into whirlwinds of fervid circular shredding. The noise comes as another layer to the burrowing guitars. The distorted screams that tear through the songs dovetail over the guitars to create eerily unique howls. The drilling noises do the same as they set the guitar tracks ablaze with frenzied buzzing like that of a beehive. The layering is brilliant and used to it's fullest potential without pushing the band's sound into anything that could be classified as digital or otherwise unnaturally augmented. The guitar and noise also come together a few times to create more of a symphonic sound. It's almost borderline black metal. If you attempted to dig deep enough you could almost find some melody. If only the band gave a shit about what you thought. Tracks Obscured by the Sun Part I" and "Obscured by the Sun Part II" are ultimately the epitome of the band's overlaying of harsh noise and their orchestration skills. Not to mention they have some of this release's catchiest riffs. This is how it's done.
I would have liked to have heard more of Pat Quinn's bass in the mix. More akin to the band's previous effort, Vermin, in 2018. Although, with as heavy as this current EP is, I'm sure it's there. It's just not as distinguished amongst the other elements.
Drummer Ross Winchel does a great job straddling both the grind and sludge genres that encompass Bled To Submission's sound. His steadfast drumming methodically trudges its path through the hardcore dirges. Focusing on precision over flash and bookending blast beats between plodding stomps.
Lead vocalist, Jody Lester belts out piercing screams that shriek over the majority of this release. And he is spitting straight venom. You can almost hear the gnashed-toothed viciousness on the other side of the microphone. I'm fairly certain he is responsible for the lower registered vocals as well. They have the cadence of water going down a drain. He does a great job of vocalizing his disgust for the lyrical subject matter. Austin and Pat bring up the rear with hardcore yells that complete the hydra-headed vocal vehemence. Not to mention guest vocals by Matt King from Austin Texas' blackened screamo band Portrayal Of Guilt on "Obscured by the Sun Part II." These diverse concoctions of vocals add yet another level to the many layers of noise and audio grating that this record excels at.
Bled To Submission's Bury Them in the Graves They Dug For You EP is an achievement of audible devastation and tumultuous abuse. It's one of the most well composed releases in this eclectic sub-genre of noise and grindcore/hardcore. The band elevates its songs with the use of the harsh noise by using it as if it were another instrument or vocalist instead of a space filler. And I'm personally thankful that the band didn't spend six minutes per song doing it. The brevity of the EP's length speaks to the band's talent as composers in the fact that they pulled off such depth in a relatively short amount of time. The atmosphere that Bury Them in the Graves They Dug For You has is vividly rich from start to finish. The band's stark message comes across without ambiguity. The record's mixing by Phil Pluskota at Sonic Assault Studios in Cape Coral, Florida and mastering by Dan Emery at Black Matter Mastering in Nashville, Tennessee clearly did this release justice. Even Derek R. Setzer's cover art perfectly encapsulates the release's distorted unease. Profoundly nuanced, caustically heavy, Bury Them in the Graves They Dug For You buries a lot of the other 2021 releases coming out.
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FFO: Full Of Hell, Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire, Wake, Dragged Into Sunlight
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