Sleeping Village Reviews
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!

LEECHED - To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse (Review)

2/7/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Written by: Izzy 

The instant I heard the single “Earth and Sky," I knew I wanted to review To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse. Only once in a blue moon does a song that genuinely makes me want to destroy something appear, densely packed with crushing riffage and percussion--and this feeling was only solidified by the second single “I, Flatline,” which remains one of the most standout tracks on the album. At that moment it was decided, and here we are with our self fulfilling prophecy.

Much like the album in question, I wish not to waste even a moment before throwing you into an endless pummeling torrent that ends before you realize it’s over, leaving you dazed and confused for hours to come. In the case of To Dull The Blades of Your Abuse, the sophomore LP from Manchester’s Leeched, you will be brutalized by 36 minutes of back-to-back noisy, vicious, and unforgivingly heavy riffs that make you wanna punch somebody's lights out. In the case of my review, it’ll be the unnecessarily obtuse verbosity I write all my analyses with to make me sound smarter than I actually am that leaves you confounded as to what the hell half these words mean and why couldn’t I just say “Hi how are ya this album kicks ass you should listen” instead of writing this massive thinkpiece. 

​
But that’s showbiz, baby! If the writing ain’t soaked in glue and glitter it ain’t gonna get no attention, so I invite you to enjoy some kickass brutal jams and expand your English lexicon with me this fine evening. [Or whenever I actually post this - Ed.]

Whether you purposefully sought out this review on a hunt for music with an irreverence for the human eardrum, or through some unfortunate twist of fate, you somehow unconsciously stumbled here--in which case, how are you? Can I get you a cup of tea? What you will find Leeched offers are riffs that hit hard and curb-stomp you to the ground, breakdowns invoking the feeling of a musical concussion, and coarse walls of animosity oozing noise. Everything about this project culminates into a feeling like having your face viciously grated against the concrete floor.

Lyrically, To Dull The Blades of Your Abuse is a misanthropic and twisted night terror, obsessed with pain, flesh, gore, violence and filth. As the title would suggest, it deals heavily with themes of trauma and abuse, described with a thick layer of metaphor and crypticity, with a vocal leitmotif of comparison of the lasting pain to bodily mutilation, burnt flesh ripped from your body, muscle torn from the sinew, lungs pierced by broken ribs. I’m starting to notice a bit of a trend with me reviewing music that’s influenced by emotional pain and suffering.

Clearly I must just be a very charismatic cheery person. 
It’s rather hard to distinguish most of the lyrics in the songs themselves, that being partially due to the nature of harsh vocals and of this style of music, but also because of an issue I’ll bring up next. So if you are somebody who is faint of heart--well, you probably shouldn’t be listening to this album in the first place, but even so, read into the lyrics at your own discretion.

Now, while this is without a doubt one of my favourite 2020 releases thus far, there is one glaring problem this album has that holds it back. The vocal audio is absolutely buried. Typically, you want vocals front and center for an album of this style, as it helps cut through the instrumentals and helps with grounding the groove, which can be very easily lost in such a noisy and chaotic form of music. Here, they are faint, still audible, but they get smothered easily by the loud guitars and frantic drumming, and this severely kneecaps the potential power and punch they could have. They end up playing second fiddle to the rest of the band, and while it doesn’t ruin a single song, it makes me a little mournful at the thought of what could’ve been. Much like an angry bear tied up with a single rubber band, this doesn’t hold the album back much, but it’s such a tiny thing that I don’t see why they couldn’t have just fixed it, unless it was an intentional and conscious stylistic choice.

In the end, I do love this album, after a rather boring month of releases in January, having something so exceptionally virulent as this to cap the month off was a bit of a treat. Only time will tell if this album has the power to stick with me, but for the time being it will definitely get played quite a bit around these parts.

​​Leeched - To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse was released Jan. 31st from Prosthetic Records

Leeched can be found:
​Bandcamp
Facebook
1 Comment
cvpeople.co.uk link
3/20/2020 06:48:46 pm

To be honest, I haven't heard any single form this album. But I am happy to know that it has been receiving a lot of good comments from the fans and the casual fans. "To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse" seems to be a good album and I am hoping that I will get the chance to listen to it. I am not sure what to expect since I don't know the genre of the singers, but my hope is high since online people have been telling me the songs included there are great! As early as now, I want to congratulate Prosthetic Records for this!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome!

    We provide thoughtful reviews of music that is heavy, gloomy...and loud enough to wake us from slumber. Written by a highfalutin peasantry!


    What are ye
    ​ 
    looking for?

    All
    2020
    420
    Acoustic
    Adam Paris
    Albums Of The Decade
    Albums Of The Year
    Alex Bringer Of Payne
    Alternative
    Alternative Metal
    Alternative Rock
    Alt Metal
    Alt Rock
    Ambient
    Ambient Metal
    Americana
    Ancienthand
    Ancient Hand
    Anti-imperialist
    AOR
    Aoty
    Apocalypse
    Art Rock
    Arzou
    Atmoblack
    Atmospheric
    Atmospheric Black Metal
    Atmospheric Doom
    Avant Garde
    Avant-garde
    Avant Garde Black Metal
    Avant Garde Death Metal
    Ballad
    Band Merch
    Bane Ov Silence
    Baroque Metal
    Beaston Lane
    Beatdown
    Bestial
    Best Of The Year 2018
    Blackened
    Blackened Crust
    Blackened Death
    Blackened Deathcore
    Blackened Death Metal
    Blackened Doom
    Blackened Grind
    Blackened Metal
    Blackened Punk
    Blackened Sludge
    Blackened Thrash
    Blackgaze
    Blackie Skulless
    Black Metal
    Black N Roll
    Black Thrash
    Blastbeasts
    Blastbeats
    Blood Metal
    Blues
    Blues Metal
    Blues Rock
    Breakcore
    Breakdown
    British Metal
    Brutal
    Brutal Death Metal
    Cantina
    Captain's Chronicles
    Captains Chronicles
    Capt Graves
    Carlos
    Cavern Death Metal
    Chaotic Death Metal
    Chaotic Hardcore
    Chaotic Metal
    Chinese Metal
    Chiptune
    Christian Metal
    Classic Albums
    Classical Crossover
    Classic Doom
    Classic Metal
    Classic Rock
    Comic
    Community Favorites
    Compilation
    Continuous Thunder
    Core
    Cosmic
    Cosmic Death Metal
    Country
    Cover Songs
    Crossover
    Crossover Thrash
    Crust
    Crust Punk
    Cyberpunk
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Metal
    Dark Pop
    Dark Rock
    Dbeat
    D-beat
    Deathcore
    Death Doom
    Death-doom
    Deathgrind
    Death Metal
    Death Thrash
    Debut Album
    Demo
    Depressive Black Metal
    Desert Rock
    Digital Hardcore
    Disco
    Dissonant
    Dissonant Black Metal
    Djent
    Doom
    Doom Death
    Doomgaze
    Doom Metal
    Doom Punk
    Doomviolence
    Double Review
    Dreampop
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Dsbm
    Dungeons And Dragons
    Dungeon Synth
    Dungeon Synth Sunday
    Ecological
    Editorial
    Edm
    Electronic
    Electronic Rock
    Emo
    EP
    Epic Doom
    Epic Heavy Metal
    Epic Metal
    EP's
    Experimental
    Experimental Black Metal
    Experimental Electronic
    Extreme Metal
    Fantasy
    Favorite Music
    Finnish Metal
    Florida Death
    Folk
    Folk Black Metal
    Folk Metal
    Folk Rock
    Free Jazz
    Fresh Meat Friday
    Funeral Doom
    Fuzz
    Garage Rock
    German Heavy Metal
    Glam Metal
    Glam Rock
    Gore
    Goregrind
    Goth
    Gothic
    Gothic Metal
    Goth Metal
    Goth Rock
    Grind
    Grindcore
    Groove Metal
    Grunge
    Guest Post
    Guest Review
    Hair Metal
    Hallucinatory Black Death Metal
    Hardcore
    Hardcore Doom
    Hardcore Punk
    Hardcore Sludge
    Hard Rock
    Heavy Grinder
    Heavy Metal
    Heavy Psych
    Heavy Rock
    Hip Hip
    Hip Hop
    Horror
    Hxc
    Icelandic
    Immigrant Core
    Immigrind
    Indie
    Indie Rock
    Indonesia
    Industrial
    Industrial Metal
    Industrial Rock
    Instrumental
    Italian Metal
    Izzy
    Japanese Metal
    Jazz
    Legends
    Lichtmensch
    Lord Hsrah
    Lovecraft
    Loveloth
    Lunar Fanatic
    Mathcore
    Mathgrind
    Math Rock
    Melodeath
    Melodic Black Metal
    Melodic Death Metal
    Melodic Doom
    Melodic Metal
    Memorial
    Merch
    Metal
    Metalcore
    Metalhead World
    Metallic Hardcore
    METAL MENAGERIE
    Metal Reivews
    Metalreviews
    Metal Reviews
    Mid Year List
    Mid-year List
    Miscellaneous
    Modern Rock
    Murder Metal
    Music Review
    Music Video
    Mystic
    Negative Reviews
    Neofolk
    Nerdy
    New Age
    New Music
    Nintendocore
    Noise
    Noise Rock
    Nu Metal
    NWOBHM
    NWOTHM
    Occult
    Occult Rock
    Old School Death Metal
    OSDM
    Ozzy Osbourne
    Pagan Metal
    Peasantrys Picks
    Pirate Metal
    Pop
    Pop Metal
    Pop Punk
    Pop Rock
    Portal
    Post-black
    Post Black Metal
    Post-black Metal
    Post-classical
    Post Doom
    Post-doom
    Post-genre
    Post Hardcore
    Post-hardcore
    Post Metal
    Post-metal
    Post Punk
    Post-punk
    Post Rock
    Post-rock
    Post Sludge
    Post-sludge
    Power Electronics
    Power Metal
    Powerviolence
    Prehistoric
    Preorder
    Prog Metal
    Progressive Black Metal
    Progressive Death Metal
    Progressive Metal
    Progressive Rock
    Prog Rock
    Psychedelic
    Psych Rock
    Punk
    Punk Rock
    Raw Black Metal
    Raw Sludge
    Record Label
    Reese
    Reissue
    Relaxing
    Release Day Roundup
    Remix
    Re-recording
    Retro Rock
    Retrospective Review
    Review Off
    Review Redux
    Reviews
    Riffs
    Rock
    Rock N Roll
    Roots Rock
    Sabbath
    Sabbath Sunday
    Sadboi
    Saxophone
    Sci Fi
    Sci-fi
    Scorpi
    Screamo
    Shane Thirteen
    Shoegaze
    Short Reviews
    Singer-songwriter
    Ska
    Skramz
    Slam
    Sleeping Village Records
    Sleeping Village Sampler
    Slipknot
    Sludge
    Sludge Metal
    Soliloquist
    Solo Act
    Sound Design
    Soundtrack
    South America
    Southern Rock
    Space
    Space Rock
    Speed Metal
    Split
    Star Wars
    Statement Of Intent
    Stenchcore
    Stoner
    Stoner Doom
    Stoner Metal
    Stoner Rock
    Story Review
    Stream
    Surf Rock
    Swedeath
    Swedish Death Metal
    Symphonic Metal
    Synth
    Synth Metal
    Synthpop
    Synthwave
    Talesofdeception
    Techdeath
    Tech Death
    Technical Death Metal
    Texas
    The Administrator
    The Dungeon Awaits
    The Voiceless Apparation
    Thevoicelessapparition
    The Voiceless Apparition
    The Voiceless Appartition
    Thrash
    Thrashcore
    Thrash Metal
    Threefoldtreatise
    Tom
    Torture Doom
    Track-premiere
    Track Review
    Track Reviews
    Trad Doom
    Traditional Doom
    Traditional Metal
    Trad Metal
    Tribute Album
    True Doom
    Trve Doom
    Underground
    Usbm
    Vaporwave
    Vattghern
    Visual Review
    Volt Thrower
    War Metal
    Weird
    Zombie

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!