Album Review: Blessthefall - 'Hollow Bodies'

Metalcore is something of a dying art form these days. What was once exciting and new has now become pile upon pile of bands drowning in a sea of boredom and monotony. One can only listen to the same thing being churned out by artists so many times without getting completely sick of it, and Blessthefall's latest release 'Hollow Bodies' fits into that category perfectly, with just about nothing to set it apart from the rest of the scene.

The songs on this album are quite predictable. There aren't many points where you'll feel like you've been hit with something new, or frankly something you didn't expect, and the result of that is a pretty boring collection of tracks. Rather than pushing any major boundaries, the band find themselves treading through clichés, such as smothering some of the tracks with an overpowering presence of synths and electronics, overproducing clean vocals to the point where they sound completely digital, or the all too familiar sound of the band cutting for the screamer to deliver a quick one liner (Intro to 'You Wear A Crown, But You're No King,' 'Hollow Bodies,' 'Youngbloods'). Thus, the band has released a record that takes a great deal of concentration to warrant a listen from start to finish. Chances are, you'll find yourself bored halfway through, and switch over to something else without having 'Hollow Bodies' leave any major imprint on you.

There are some guest vocal spots on the album featuring screaming from Jesse Barnett (Stick To Your Guns) and Jake Luhrs (August Burns Red) on tracks 'Youngbloods' and 'Carry On' respectively, both provide strong performances on the songs, but just don't bring enough to the table to set them apart from anything else going around at the moment. That said, when you're screaming lyrics as cliched as, “Don't go running your mouth again,” that's probably to be expected. There's also some really nice clean vocals by synthpop princess Lights on the final track of the album 'Open Water,' and while this adds a really nice dimension to the song, it's really not interesting enough to warrant drawing the track out for 6 minutes and 59 seconds.

Giving credit where credit is due though, lead guitarist Eric Lambert provides some pretty strong parts in his department. They aren't necessarily particularly exciting, but at some points on the album, they showcase a fair bit of skill. Nothing mind-blowing, but some strong additions nonetheless. However, this certainly isn't enough to outweigh all of the negatives that this album contains. In fact, it doesn't even come close to doing so.

'Hollow Bodies' is a very bland, generic album. There's nothing particularly exciting or engaging here, and for the majority of listeners, you'll struggle to get too far past the halfway point without switching over to something else. There are a few moments where the band shows a fair bit of potential to do something pretty good, but without a great of exploration and stepping outside of their comfort zone, they won't be putting that out anytime soon.

1. Exodus
2. You Wear A Crown, But You're No King
3. Hollow Bodies
4. Déjà Vu
5. Buried In These Walls
6. See You On The Outside
7. Youngbloods
8. Standing On The Ashes
9. Carry On
10. The Sound of Starting Over
11. Open Water