September 2025 Featured Release - The Revolution Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month's feature release for The Revolution, nominated by me (Shadowdoom9 (Andi)), is the 2006 debut album by Los Angeles-based melodic deathcore band As Blood Runs Black, Allegiance. Their blend of deathcore and melodic death metal was quite unique in the mid-2000s Myspace era, and it still sounds fresh today. This is a grand example of what early non-symphonic melodic deathcore sounds like!

https://metal.academy/releases/30622

I've done my review, here's its summary:

There has been some talk about As Blood Runs Black's debut Allegiance being similar to The Black Dahlia Murder. I haven't listened to a lot of that band, but based on the few songs I've heard from TBDM, I can totally understand. Allegiance I would consider more of a blend of deathcore and melodeath. And everything is in perfect place, including the breakdowns! This is also back when melodic deathcore was more deathly and less blackened/symphonic than their younger peers. Allegiance has the fast guitarwork, melodic soloing, and brutal breakdowns to expect in any metalcore/deathcore album. Vocals range from blackened to deathly. Lots of blast beats are used in the drumming. And the songs are all under 5 minutes in length, so don't expect any progressive epics. The breakdowns actually have audible bass which isn't quite common in other parts of the album. This album would've been 100% perfect but ends up getting a couple percentage points knocked off for a beautiful yet unfitting acoustic interlude in the middle. Still, Allegiance is the best place for anyone wanting to test out deathcore for the first time without going into the popular new wave of symphonic blackened deathcore. I just hope As Blood Runs Black would return with another masterpiece like this without any acoustic interludes. We need more straight-up melodic deathcore, seriously!

5/5

Recommended tracks: "In Dying Days", "My Fears Have Become Phobias", "The Brighter Side of Suffering", "Strife (Chug Chug)", "Legends Never Die"

For fans of: All Shall Perish, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Crimson Armada

If you look in my Spotify playlists, you’ll find one titled “Workouts”. Fittingly I use this for my kettlebell and free weight exercise sessions, and I would say approx. 80% of the content is deathcore or metalcore. This is something of a revelation for someone who up until around three years ago had heard virtually zero of such music, in fact I had intentionally looked to avoid it for most of the two sub-genre’s existence. Whilst this by no means makes me an expert on such styles of metal, I figure that I am at a reasonable enough level of maturity with this music to pass the occasional comment on The Revolution clan feature release.

As Blood Runs Back have a sound that I instantly find jarring as they deploy that djenty style of riffing that reverberates throughout the track and then there’s the big bloopy and mathy leads that run riot over proceedings. ‘Hesper Prynne’ has the makings of great Meshuggah worship but blows it by just piling more things on top of one another. This track is then followed by instrumental track ‘Pouring Reign’ which just feels like pointless musings really. By this point I am missing some of the big, rhythmic riffs that I use to fuel my workouts. What constitutes as breakdowns here (and I genuinely like a good breakdown) feels just more like a fake slowing of the pace where something else happens. There are moments like on ‘The Brighter Side of Suffering’ when the album sounds a little more on point than on other occasions, but this is still a bit too tame for me.

For me, As Blood Runs Black lack cohesion, bobbing around a little too much on the waves of their own farts in the bath water. I am aware as I type this that I am commenting on a scene that I do not entirely understand and so I am trying not to sound disingenuous to what I am listening to. To put it in grown up terms, the record is too melodic and lacks consistent punch. Tracks such as ‘Beneath the Surface’ start off with such promise but soon end up sounding more or less like every other track on the record and after a while (a short while), this just grates on me.

2/5

Checked this out this morning whilst clearing the garden and I quite enjoyed it. I haven't got vast experience with The Revolution, but this was better than a lot of what I have heard in the genre. No tracks stuck with me partucularly, unlike albums like Trivium's "In Flames" or any number of Converge albums, which do feature some very memorable tracks, but as a whole I found it a pretty positive listening experience whilst carrying out a few routine maintenance tasks. One of the biggest bugbears I have with Metalcore and its offshoots is the vocals which often just give me a headache, but this guy is pretty decent and I never found his vocal delivery bothersome. This all might sound like damning with faint praise, but for me and the Revolution that is actually pretty good!

3/5 (a solid C)