thebleedingalarm

I’m going to go ahead and get one thing completely out of the way: I really don’t like it when bands put all the words in their name, which thebleedingalarm do. Even if it wasn’t frustrating simply for the blatant disregard for the most basic of spelling/grammar rules, it deserves scorn for making that little red line show up every time I type the name.

But alas, onto the album. Beauty in Destruction is the first full-length from the Kelowna, British Columbia group who formed in 2003. The band eventually recorded Beauty in Destruction on their own with Immortal Records picking it up and releasing it later. It’s a pretty bold accomplishment for a band to have a label pick up their self-recorded album and release it as is.

But what is it? The band describes their sound as a cross between indie and hardcore, citing fellow Canadians Death from Above 1979 and Alexisonfire as points of reference. A combo of the two might be a bit of a stretch, but the elements are certainly there. Thebleedingalarm combine melodic metal with rock sensibility to create a sound that you don’t hear all over the place, but isn’t remarkably refreshing either. If pressed, I’d classify Beauty in Destruction as a straight-up heavy rock album as the bulk of the songs, as opener "The Girl Has a Gun," involve minimal metal or hardcore leanings and would fit in being played alongside Deftones on your local modern rock radio station. It isn’t until the third track that the hardcore starts to make an appearance, but even then it serves mostly to accentuate the lighter rock it’s spliced into. The album’s second-to-last track, "Abatheau" is certainly the highlight, opening with solid metal riffs and for the most part keeping it up throughout the song.

Beauty in Destruction sounds like a big, clean, hard rock album that would have been a better effort had they either gone straight in that direction or made more songs like "Abatheau." Instead, the bulk of the album is a fusion of sounds that tends to leave out some of the better aspects of the genres the band tries to incorporate.

However, last night at a Misery Signals show I was reminded that I’m no longer the main demographic (male in late 20s) this genre is trying to target. I’m sure the kids will love it.