Have you ever taken a chance on an album that, on paper, you just really shouldn’t vibe with? Having grown up between the ’90s and the 2000s, I never really clicked with what was going on in the music world then. The rock of the time always bounced off me, given preference for the prog and hard rock my parents liked. When I cut out into my own territory, I bee-lined right for extreme metal, and with that figured nu-metal was outdated cringe. So, imagine my surprise when 20 Buck Spin (typically a haven for weird death metal and doom) dropped “Marathon” by Bleed, a love letter to the alt-rock of the late ’90s and early aughts. And imagine my doubled surprise when I realized I actually kinda loved it.
Dallas’ Bleed is pretty clear and unapologetic with what they’re doing on their self-titled debut album. Simply referring to themselves as alternative rock and referencing bands like Deftones in their FFO, Bleed aims to write heavy rock the way it was done at the turn of the millennium. The riff work tends to focus more on groove and vibe over any flash or flair. Nods to the washy effects of shoegaze and dream pop abound. The vocals, mostly dreamy emotive cleans with a few moments of screaming for effect, tend to float across the top of the mix rather than push themselves to the fore. The drums (a particular highlight to me) trade in cool groovy beats with some great fills. Hell, Bleed even brings back old nu-metal standards like turntable scratches for a couple songs. The authenticity to what now passes as dad rock (a definition shift that still stings me) is stunning just on its own.
But more vitally, Bleed is also filled with songs that just feel so damned cool. The vibe’s set immediately as “Climbing Down” launches into a big groove backed by turntables before settling into a more open chord structure as Ryan Hughes’ voice introduces itself. “Fixate” and “Through the Cylinder” follow in similar fashion with more great grooves, the latter also featuring a slick programmed drum intro. Changing things up a little, “Killing Time” sits as a bit of an early album favorite of mine as its intro riff settles into a warm shoegazey drift with a more relaxed pace (even as it features the odd scream and dissonant chord), while the emotional charge of “Marathon” does feel like a very obvious and strong choice of first single.
It eventually does become apparent that Bleed isn’t trying to pull too many surprises across their debut, but when the songwriting is as good as it is, I find myself hard-pressed to care if the band just wants to keep a consistent vibe rolling. “Cynical” does a great job of making the moment where the song lightens up into a dreamy haze a genuine payoff, while the groovy gallop of “Enjoy Your Stay” feels lively and energetic before a twist into a pummeling riff with guest vocals from Static Dress. I’ll admit to having been caught up enough in the drum fills on “Slip” that I ended up scat singing along to it in my car at least once, and “Shallow” could well be my favorite song on the album with its smooth driftiness bolstered by acoustics. It does a wonderful job evoking the ocean that adorns Bleed‘s cover art, and just feels, well, cool. By the time the more riffy “Take It Out” fades into noise, there’s not been a single second wasted across Bleed, a notable marked improvement over the band’s influences and that old drive to use up the entirety of a CD’s capacity.
It’s remarkable how consistent the album is, and even if you’re not being thrown a lot of curveballs on an album already unabashedly paying tribute to an era of music two decades old, Bleed always gives you plenty to grasp onto and enjoy. It helps that the band fires on all cylinders across the whole runtime. The guitar trio of Ryan Hughes, Noah Boyce, and Rubio N. creates a great wall of textured sound that can be crushing or lushly dreamy in equal measure. Adam Ackerman’s bass is strong and steadfast, while Carson Wilcox regularly steals the show for me with his drum performance. The production just sounds so authentic to its influences too, with a dense crunch that feels very in your face and true to that early 2000s vibe.
It feels like I’ve overused the word ‘cool’ in this review, but Bleed is honestly just one of the coolest albums I’ve come across in recent memory. Not only is the album excellent, but in personal context, it’s gotten me to reconsider my stance on the music that inspired it. When playing some samples in the car, my Deftones-adoring fiancée opined that she was shocked I decided to review it, and that it sounded like something that should have come from her playlists and not mine. Maybe I’m a little surprised I picked it up too, but I have no regrets, and have enjoyed Bleed enough to follow up with asking my fiancée for Deftones recommendations to keep the fix rolling. Bleed is an excellent statement as a debut, a love letter to a bygone era of rock I was almost certainly too harsh towards. With the recent popular resurgence of love for ’90s/2000s rock and nu- metal, I hope Bleed makes some serious waves with their debut. What’s old is new again, and with bands like Bleed leading the charge, maybe it’s even better now!
