After too many delays to even care anymore, Bleed The Sky finally returned with album number 2....'Murder The Dance'. And what that means exactly is beyond me, but here's to hoping it's a reference to the current moronic trend of "hardcore dancing" that goes on at shows (mostly of the metalcore and deathcore variety though, thankfully). As far as the music goes, it's understandable that when a band goes through as many line up changes as Bleed The Sky has, that the artistic vision is going to change, and the music along with it. What one hopes though, is that the band stays on course with the previous material, while progressing enough so that it doesn't sound like a repeat of the prior release. And for the first two songs, "Knife Fight In A Phone Booth", and "Sullivan", things are definitely on track and it seems as though 'Murder The Dance is going to be a perfect follow up to 'Paradigm In Entropy'. It's after the two initial tracks though, that the band starts to lose the plot entirely.
The album's title track still has a pretty wicked edge to it, but the production falls short of the mark. The song should be ten times heavier than what it is, and in certain parts it is, but ultimately, they sacrifice the low end and the song falls flat. It sounds like it was recorded by two different people...one who had the right idea, and one who didn't. It's this song that actually sets the tone for the remainder of the album.
While there's less of a Chimaira influence this time around, there's also less quality material. Whatever it was that the previous line up had that helped them write such a kick ass record is gone. Not to say this line up doesn't have skill or talent, but the new material is a far cry from being anywhere near as good as the debut. The synths that helped to add depth and nuance to the songs are gone, and Noah's signature clean vocals that made the last album so great are hardly present on this album.
"Occam's Razor" is the mid-point of the album, and this is where Bleed The Sky really fails. While the song has a rather atmospheric feel to it, it's a terrible attempt at showing the "softer" side of the band. As the second half of the album kicks in with "Bastion", it continues to get worse. There's an emphasis on aggression, but with the disappearance of the melodies, there's no breaks to the songs and no build up...and with little to no variation in tempo, the songs quickly become repetitive and stale. It's not until three quarters of the way through the album, on "Slavior", that Noah comes to his senses and utilizes his haunting clean vocals again, delivering a wicked soaring melodic chorus. Chances are this song, and the first two were written long ago, by the old line up.
And it has to be mentioned that Bleed The Sky loses ALL sense of identity on "Poseidon", and becomes a Down tribute band. Not only is the riff straight out of the school of "Down/Corrosion Of Conformity", but vocally, Noah comes out of left field with his best attempt at a post-Heroin addict Phil Anselmo. Definitely another one of the album's most unexpected and terrible tracks, and once again calls the band's direction into question. While variety is usually a good thing...not every band can pull it off. This is obviously one of those cases where the band needs to come to an agreement on direction, and stick to it.
