Slowbleed – The Blazing Sun, A Fiery Dawn
Release Date: 14th January 2022
Label: Creator-Destructor
Bandcamp
Genre: Metal, Hardcore.
FFO: Gulch, Pantera, King Nine.
Review By: Ross Bowie
Slowbleed found themselves immediately in a strange place, as any band having hype around their debut album, brings a level of pressure that could cause them to doubt and change themselves. However, Slowbleed took all this pressure and intensity and used it to double down on their unique blend of Hardcore and Traditional Heavy Metal. Their EP Never Been Worse was met with a lot of love and people in the know were quickly banking on Slowbleed to deliver a full-length of similar quality, but the band have not done that. The album is better. Much better.
The Blazing Sun, A Fiery Dawn has as much to do with hardcore as it does death metal. The band find themselves pulling from so many different reference points and mixing them together in a barrage of riffs and intensity that hasn’t been done to this standard since Gulch released Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress. The band attack their traditional metal riffing and breakdowns with all the intensity of a basement floor show.
The opening track Ice Cold Odyssey sets the scene for what the band are going to achieve. There are guitar solos and arpeggiated riffs all over the song while constantly ramping up in intensity, before leaving you via a devastating breakdown. This is an album that will equally appeal to your denim jacket wearing older brother, but also get the kids in windbreakers swinging their arms and two-stepping.
Slowbleed are only going to build on this mission statement, and you’re going to want to be part of that journey. Driven By Fire is the closest a band has come to writing a Pantera style ballad since… well, Pantera. Being able to skip between genres and pull them together in ways that don’t become repetitive or boring make this album a joy to listen to. This is a band on their debut album, and they’re only going to grow and expand from here. 
(4 / 5)
