Some people prefer old school retro thrash while others prefer it when new elements are added and the genre is taken in a different direction, and Bleeding Red definitely belongs in the latter category.
While defintiely rooted in the sound and conventions of thrash metal, this German band has nonetheless broken down a lot of boundaries between thrash metal and its neighboring extreme metal subgenres black metal and death metal. Now, yes, there is death-thrash and there is black-thrash, but Bleeding Red's approach incorporates the three genres in a way that strikes me as being slightly different from what you might typically hear in similar black-death-thrash hybrids.
Bleeding Red efficiently combine thrash aggression with death metal brutality and insert all out black metal-based blastbeat passages as well and also incorporate melodic aspects from melodeath and more traditional heavy metal, and they move seamlessly back and forth between the elements from these different genres. Some tracks seem to be thematically based on a specific genre, while others are fully hybrid.
There can be no doubt that this band is a collection of skilled musicians, who not only know how to perform and play their instruments well. They also understand how to compose compelling and dynamic metal tracks that never get boring (and they obviously understand the affinities of metal subgenres) – and this is definitely also an important aspect of musicianship.
Bleeding Red provide a modern alternative to metalcore, which does not "betray" the principles of metal and so, I think metal purists – and other fans of extreme metal, of course – will find Evolution's Crown a very attractive release.
Track listing:
1. Bloodforce
2. The Running Man
3. Nameless
4. Wasted Screams
5. Thoughtcrime
6. Unmaster
7. Involution
8. Calm Before the Storm
9. Tritoxine
10. Frequencies
11. Goddess of Black
12. Calling for your Downfall
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