Hellblind are one hell of a supergroup comprised of former members of Pitchshifter, Romeo Must Die, This is Menace, Stampin’ Ground AND Outside the Coma. If you haven’t checked any of those bands out, I would highly recommend you do so as all are awesome. However, their combined work on this debut single should be great, and I cannot wait to check it out!
‘Evil Eye’ opens the EP heavy with a breakdown, and I already know I’m going to love this. The vocals add an almost hardcore element to it all, and the thrashy backing instrumentation does little to dispel that feeling. Despite the heaviness of it all though, it’s still pretty damn catchy when it reaches the chorus, the backing vocals adding a lot of fun to it all. Also, the riff that comes out of the chorus is amazing, I’m already gushing over the guitars. And of course, we get another breakdown, and it’s a huge one. The track doesn’t overstay its welcome at all either, clocking in at under three minutes and being one hell off a gut punch to begin. They even squeeze in a ‘bleh’ at the end, and yes they still make me laugh. An easily playlisted track from Hellblind!
‘If You’re Going Through Hell’ aptly sounds like something from the Doom soundtrack upon its opening, building slowly with an eerie note ringing before drums and bass come in harder and harder over the top. It then launches into more hardcore/death metal for the verse, going just as hard as the opener. It does, however, slow up a little bit for the chorus, giving the listener a slight break from the all out assault and provides a very catchy vocal line to boot. And we get a breakdown to take us home, which is as heavy as it is awesome.
The slow-build, menacing intros continue on into ‘Hitched’ it almost sounding like early 2000s industrial/new metal, a la Static X. Especially when the vocals come in to drop it into a disgusting, low verse riff. The Robb Flynn-esque vocals fit so good over the top of it, too. Yet still somehow they manage to slow it down again to give us another epic, catchy chorus. It’s the perfect blend of Machine Head and Parkway Drive at times, I really like this. It’s another that easily makes the playlist!
‘Wounds’ launches straight into the harsh vocals and a wicked fast drumline. This whole EP has been balls to the wall the whole way through, I love it. And again, I just want to highlight just how good the riffs are, real top class writing. Then the final track, ‘Soul Assassin’, takes us out on an equally big bang. It’s a massive, heavy track to close things out on and, as usual, still has a bit of room for some catchy, cleaner vocals too. It’s a great way to close a great EP!
Overall: This was fantastic. A short, sweet, heavy EP that doesn’t overstay its welcome at all. If anything, I’d have been more than happy with a full album of this! I was a pretty big fan of a lot of the guys’ previous bands, but this feels like it’s on another level, and may be my favourite release from any of them! More please Hellblind!
The Score: 8.5/10
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