Blood Loss – The Struggle CD review

In this day and age there are so many bands trying to sound like bands such as: As I Lay Dying, All That Remains and Shadows Fall and the truth is you have to be something really special and have that spark about you to make it big in the metalcore scene. London boys Blood Loss are a band who can definitely make it big thanks to the release of their crushingly brutal debut album, The Struggle. With catchy, melodic choruses, pummelling, aggressive guitar riffs and charging rhythm sections, Blood Loss are a band who has hit the ground running with their debut album – offering up to the listener six, powerful, in your face anthems that are some of the finest songs to come from a UK based metalcore band!

The guitar riffs are razor sharp and precise, driving through each song like a cheese wire through a block on Asda’s own mature cheddar and unlike most metalcore bands, Blood Loss are a band who use completely different riffs, licks and technically challenging solo’s in each song appose to recycling previous guitar lines and making them a variation of previous work. Tracks such as the brutal ‘The Struggle’ and the driving anthem that is ‘Stand Alone are both completely different to closing track ‘Paradise’ which takes a more melodic approach to the guitar work and it’s this diversity and difference that sets them apart from most other metalcore bands.

The Struggle is an album jammed full of catchy, melodic choruses and although this is typical of metalcore, hardcore and deathcore, Blood Loss certainly do it better than most others; ensuring their choruses are memorable as well as stimulating and epic the moment they kick in. Tracks such as ‘This Still Remains’ and ‘Lost’ are both songs that automatically converge from an aggressive, dynamic verse to a clean cut, melodic verse that catches the listener of guard, hooking them with a display of melodic vocal techniques and abilities that changes both the mood and atmosphere of the music.

For a debut album, The Struggle really is a jaw dropping musical experience packed full of brilliant musicianship and awesome songs. To say it is an album though is a bit misleading as in fact the album only has six tracks on it and should be considered more of an EP. Still, six all killer, no filler, astounding metalcore anthems really do hit the spot when the UK is somewhat lacking talent in this specific genre. If this masterpiece is what Blood Loss comes up with for their first release, the next album will surely be flawless!

Metalcore bands do get a load of stick from the metal crowd for being wannabee’s and different to their much loved genre, but from the moment The Struggle kicks in, Blood Loss will be able to convert any loyalist into one of their fans, mulling them over with powerful, brutal, rip-roaring head bang fests. [8/10]

About Del Preston

So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, looking for one thousand brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night. So, Jeff Beck pops his head 'round the door, and mentions there's a little sweet shop on the edge of town. So - we go. And - it's closed. So there's me and Keith Moon and David Crosby, breaking into that little sweet shop, eh. Well, instead of a guard dog, they've got this bloody great big Bengal tiger. I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shop owner and his son, that's a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business really. But sure enough, I got the M&Ms and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show.