Time Signature Nothing left alive...

Genre: modern death-thrash

Modern death-thrash from Down Under, Truth Corroded's "Worship the Bled" has everything one could want from modern metal music.

After an intro of Tibetan monk chanting (which recurs in the outro of the album), 'Knives of the Betrayed' starts with a heavy doom-ladden riff before a blastbeat sets in and is followed by a series of brutal thrashy riffs. And that pretty much sets the tone of the album which is full of crushing riffs of varying brutality and, while the base sound is modern thrash metal, there are plenty of blastbeats and heavy breakdowns on the album as well (not the metalcore type breakdown, so metal purists need not worry) plus groovy sections, all accompanied by precise drumming with lots of double bass drum work. These elements, along with the exclusively harsh vocals should ensure that fans of both modern thrash metal and death metal should find this album appealing.

While this is perhaps not the most innovative of albums, there are a couple of more experimental things to, such as the violin the pops up in 'Dragged Beneath' and the overlaid semi.clean guitars in passages of the otherwise heavy and groovy 'Summon Abyss'.

The production is extremely professional as is the musicianship. Everything is perfermed with great precision and tightness, and the guitar solos are often technically advanced, involving sweeping and shredding galore.

"Worship the Bled" is a fine example of modern thrash metal which is not stagnant but has been moved out of its late 90s vacuum and taken to the 21st century.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

optisailor2002 My first encounter with Truth Corroded was through their performance at the last Grindhouse gig, where they headlined alongside numerous other local death metal and grindcore bands. The band managed to stand out for me, being not only one of the few bands that day to play a genre that I am more familiar with, but also through the sheer energy that the band has manage to emanate through their performance. Looking at the band's history, this is not surprising at all considering the experience that the band has managed to cumulate over the past 14 years, with Worship the Bled being their fourth full length output.

The album opens with the dark Knives of the Betrayed, a hint for what's to come next as the drums of guest drummer Kevin Talley introduces the listeners to Truth Corroded's brand of music, and guitarists Mark and Darren drive the music forward, with the riffs that they pull out from their instruments giving listeners an ominous feeling, setting a dark atmosphere for the album, fitting for the band's self-professed style of "dark thrash metal". As the band picks up speed, it becomes obvious that this is not a record for one to sit back and relax to. Jason's vocal styles, while being a metalcore-styled bark (think bands like Killswitch Engage) surprisingly fit the battering music extremely well, backed by the excellent instrumental section of the band.

The featuring of Kevin Talley on the drums certainly helps the band in its cause to provide some of the most hard-hitting music, as he punishes the drum set furiously, and executes his parts with much ease and flair. There are even moments on tracks to give him time to display his personal style like at the ending of Knives of the Betrayed, and his death metal background also adds a brutal touch to the band's music with the furious death-metal styled blastbeats that he incorporates into tracks. Lead guitarist Darren also displays his virtuosity throughout, not only with the numerous guitar solos that feature much finger acrobatics, but also with the lead lines that are layered above the rest of the instruments, and will certainly capture the attention of speed-maniacs. On top of these moments, he also incorporates some unique playing style of his guitar on songs like Scavengers, and though it could have been a good idea to experiment, it came across as slightly awkward.

The band, with Worship the Bled, has also managed to fuse elements of death metal and thrash metal nicely, with many songs seeing the band featuring many heavily chugged sections, yet managing to retain a sense of melody in their music, and this is especially prominent in the melodic lead guitar sections on songs like Pride of Demise. The songs on the album also display the band's ability to write high energy, yet catchy songs, with choruses that allow for listeners to easily shout along. The band has also managed to incorporate numerous different elements on different tracks, ensuring that each song on the album has a something fresh and different to offer to listeners. Songs like The Great Waste of Flesh provide a nice atmosphere in the background on top of the heavy and intense music that goes on in the foreground, especially with the intro of the track, coupled with the weird fiddling with the lead guitar, while Remnants sees the band punishing listeners with some of the heaviest material on the album. Dragged Beneath even sees a violin coming into the picture with a mournful tone to it and an extended solo, easily making the track one of the most emotional and standout tracks of the album.

Metalcore or metalcore-influenced music is not really my genre of choice when it comes to listening to metal or its related genres, but Truth Corroded, with Worship the Bled has managed to capture my attention fully with the energetic and sincere music that they have put out, and definitely qualifies as one of the best album of its genre that I have encountered thus far, with the heavy legit metal references that they have included throughout and the excellent execution of the songs that they have written.

Originally written for http://www.heavymetaltribune.com/