Bleeding Through – Nine (Review)

Bleeding Through are a metalcore band from the US and this is their ninth album.

It has been some time since the last Bleeding Through album, (2018’s Love Will Kill All), but fresh off the back of seeing the band last year at 2024’s Damnation Festival, I have been looking forward to getting stuck into Nine.

Nine is the sound of a band knowing exactly who they are and what they want to do. It’s riotously good fun, bringing us 42 minutes of Bleeding Through’s trademark keyboard-enhanced metalcore. Big riffs, symphonic accents, harsh shouts, clean singing, and infectious melody; it’s all present and correct, just as I like it. There is a reason why I like Bleeding Through so much, which is a mix of both the songwriting and the delivery. The band know how to pen a good tune, and they know how to execute with passion.

Blending elements of hardcore and metal, with keyboard highlights and blackened intensity, Bleeding Through have retained their classic sound, while also deepening it – this is a broader and deeper-sounding version of Bleeding Through, and Nine sounds remarkable. The band are as heavy as ever, but seem to have embraced their extreme metal elements even further. There are plenty of fast and scathing parts, with vicious blast beats, while the symphonic orchestration sounds bigger, richer, and fuller with blackened malevolence. Despite this, there are still epic choruses deployed on occasion that lift the listener out of the mayhem and into the heavens.

The singer has always possessed a more charismatic voice than many, and he is on fine form across Nine. Raging, yet considered, his shouts, roars, and barks have a personality that’s unusual in the style. Alongside this sit his formidable cleans, as well as, strikingly, the cleans of the very capable keyboardist. Of the latter, her impact on Nine is notable; both her vocals and keyboards are more prevalent and integral to the music, which is one of the reasons why Nine works so much. Her influence saturates Nine, working in harmony with the singer’s muscular presence to produce something greater than the sum of its parts. (This seems like as good a place as any to also note that the album features guests from Comeback Kid, God Forbid, and Shadows Fall).

The songs are catchy, memorable, and full of hooks. The aggressive heaviness rubs shoulders with dark emotion and atmospheric grandeur, and the overall package that the band bring to the table is a compelling and enjoyable one. Nine is a very well-rounded album, and Bleeding Through sound monstrously good.

I have been listening to Bleeding Through since 2003, so I freely confess my bias, but this stuff really hits the spot for me. I also confess that I wasn’t expecting Nine to be as damn good as it actually is. Nine is a bloody strong album from Bleeding Through, make no mistake. The band sound very much like themselves, and the record is simply great.

Essential listening.