First Blood

A project featuring current and former members of Terror on Trustkill is enough to ward away many, but First Blood nonetheless have a guaranteed market for their brand of tough, mosh-oriented metalcore — a subgenre where it has become increasingly easy to get away with laughable songwriting and gimmicky posturing and/or Earth Crisis worship. First Blood do no such thing. Every second of this release exudes a crystal clear impression of this band being willing and able to kill you, and when backed by such furious songwriting and airtight musicianship, the vibes become downright threatening. Unlike many groups struggling to out-chug the competition, First Blood actually take the time to structure well-written, memorable songs around their admittedly abundant breakdowns. Allowing periodic trickles of efficient death metal to provide a much-needed dose of contrast works to their advantage too, although the Red Chord this ain’t — this is a tough guy record, bottom line. The first song is entitled "Next Time I See You You’re Dead.” There is an approximate average of three to four breakdowns per song. The record’s outro is comprised of an elementary build-up ripped directly out of Slayer‚s playbook, and then... a breakdown. End of album. If you’re still reading, buy this hefty slab of plastic immediately before one of the members knocks your teeth out.