Release Day Roundup: 4/4/25

Top Picks

Bleed from Within – Zenith (groove metalcore)

Is much as it seems like they’re custom made for me, I’ve had a hard time getting into Bleed from Within, outside of the outstanding Era album (2018). But if Fracture (2020) was a touch too much, and Shrine (2022) wasn’t quite enough, then Zenith hits just right. Zeolite may have nicked their album cover, but it's the Scots who pull off the most convincing Parkway Drive imitation this week. There more than a few moments throughout Zenith where Scott Kennedy's vocal phrasing owes a substantial debt to Winston McCall. The rest of the band also occasionally dabble in the kind of metallic leads and symphonic dramatics that have come to define the past few Parkway outings, particularly on "Dying Sun" and "Immortal Desire"—the latter of which also features Mastodon's Brann Dailor, whose surprisingly Rick Astley-ish contributions feel much more integrated and help elevate the material far more than Troy Sanders did on the new Underoath album (even if he was still arguably the highlight of the record...). These symphonics were already in play on Shrine, but here they feel much more subtle and refined, which is also true of the album's otherwise more direct and aggressive approach.

In addition to the added Parkway-isms, Bleed from Within appear to have taken some serious notes from their Fellow subjects in Sylosis, with Josh Middleton lending his gruff growl to "Hands of Sin". Ironically, the song is one of Zenith's less stompy offerings—being built around a mournful, melodic chorus that makes me yearn for what While She Sleeps could have been—save for a seriously Sylosian middle section. Then there's the all out thrash of "Chained to Hate", which would feel far more comfortable on the new Machine Head album than any of it's actual contents (more about that at a later date...). If there's a flaw to be found with Zenith, it's that Bleed from Within still owe much of their modern sound to more unique and sizable artists, compared with the more distinctive path they seemed to be carving out for themselves with albums like Fracture and Era. At the end of the day though, it mostly sounds like Sylosis mixed with Parkway Drive—a potent combination that I personally can't resist. 10/10, no (more) notes.

A Separate Piece – Clintoncore (metalcore)

Speaking of knowing thyself... A Separate Piece sound like every band I listened to throughout from ages 14–25, and I am absolutely here for it. Seriously, since discovering this band/album this morning I've listened to it five-times through. I'm currently embarking on a sixth as I write this, and it's appeal hasn't grown any less potent. Clintoncore throws back to the melodeath-tinged metalcore days of Bleeding Through and early I Killed the Prom Queen or As I Lay Dying, with a touch of 36CrazyFists and Evergreen Terrace thrown in for good measure. There's also a bit of Bullet for My Valentine on one song, and a chorus that sounds a touch like Spineshank (along with a possible shout-out to Coal Chamber/Dope via a cry of "Burn motherfucker burn!") but the band's allegiance is undoubtedly with the movement that killed nu metal than those which sullied their name.

As with all nostalgia, Clintoncore also comes with an uncomfortable reckoning. While I'm all for the sample/mosh-call "your boyfriend's a pussy anyway" on "sry bout yr bf", I definitely could have done without the "fucking bitch" that comes after. I'm willing to let it slide for now as an ironic part of the pastiche, but—as much as I love this style—there are definitely parts of it, such as casual misogyny and making light of suicide, that are surely better left in the past. As far as imitative celebrations go though, this album not only equals but often exceeds its source material. If Clintoncore had come out in 2005, A Separate Piece would have been one of my favourite bands, and there's little reason why they can't still be in 2025.

Red Graves – Nighttime Heists / Daytime Getaways (progressive rock/post-hardcore)

In case you missed it, Red Graves is the new band from Heavy Blog-writer Ahmed Hasan and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Cass Redgrave. While Night Heists / Daytime Getaways is much more subdued offering than the tech-death onslaught one might expect from Ahmed's writing and previous musical forays, it is no less impressive in its progressive scope and instrumentality. Although this sort of thing isn't my usual sort of thing (see above), it is undeniably impressive in both its execution and the obvious amount of passion place it. The band draw substantial inspiration from bands like The Mars Volta, Protest the Hero, Muse and the other artists Ahmed and Cass discuss in the extremely insightful Anatomy of feature we did with them, but I'd much rather listen to this than any of those bands' more recent output and I imagine you will too.