#witnes

Whenever I see something new from the post-hardcore / metalcore band Blessthefall, I’m always shocked, because I keep forgetting that they’re still a thing. I know that sounds bad to say, almost like I’m bashing them, but Blessthefall is one of those bands that really shouldn’t be around. Not because I think they suck, or that they’re one of the worst bands ever, but it’s mainly that they haven’t done anything with their sound in the last nine years that’s interesting, worthwhile, or really good. They’ve just been coasting by, and it’s like, “Who really cares about them anymore?” The band just announced that they signed to Rise Records, and they have a new album coming out, which is cool, because Rise was the label for all of these bands back in the day, but at the same time, I’m just wondering why. No one’s really demanding a Blessthefall album these days, but I won’t lie – their first couple albums are bangers. I haven’t heard 2007’s His Last Walk in a long, long time, but I remember that one being pretty good. It was the only album to feature Craig Mabbitt, whom you might know as the current vocalist of Escape The Fate (and the Dead Rabbitts if you follow his other work), but 2009’s Witness is the album that I remember most of all from them. It was the first album that featured current vocalist Beau Bokan, and it seemed like the band was blowing up in the post-hardcore scene. I don’t recall if there was any kind of beef with Blessthefall at that time, and I don’t think so, because I just remember being really curious about who Bokan was. They released a couple of songs with him before Witness came out, and I was actually quite impressed with them. The band was going into a bit of a heavier sound, but Bokan’s clean vocals were surprisingly solid, ultimately being able to offer some catchy, memorable, and well-performed hooks that metalcore can sometimes lack.

I remember listening to the follow-up to that LP, 2011’s Awakening, and not caring about it. Even back then, when it came out, I didn’t like it, because it just sounded like they were trying way too hard to copy Witness. They’ve released a few albums since then, but they’ve barely made waves. They’re one of those bands that people are like, “Oh, Blessthefall, I was into them years ago,” and that’s the extent of it. Witness was a really, really good record, but they’ve never been able to top it. I can kind of understand why, whether it’s because they’ve been coasting all this time, or Witness is a genuinely great album. It’s one of those metalcore albums from back in the day that was deemed as a “classic.” Blessthefall was a band to watch out for at one point in time, and Witness showed people that, yeah, they have talent. My favorite kind of metalcore back then was the kind of that had really talented vocalists, meaning that they can actually utilize a catchy and memorable hook, along with heavy and brutal instrumentation, essentially having a good balance between catchy hooks and brutal verses and instrumentation. Witness was one of my favorite albums back then, because of how it had every single element that I loved in that style of music, but I’ve wondered how it would hold up today, considering it’s been around eight years since I’ve listened to this album. I decided to pick up a copy, since I’ve been into tons of albums that I used to listen to when I was around 15 – 17. This is definitely one of those albums, but I’m happy to say that Witness has held up quite well since it first came out. It’s funny, too, because every time I hear this album, I’m just like, “Man, what happened to this band?” It’s true, though, because I keep wondering why Blessthefall was never able to top this record. Maybe it’s just nostalgia, and I thought that at first, but when I actually listened to it, I was surprised at how nice this album sounds. It’s got the perfect metalcore sound. This is what bands wanted to sound like in the mid-00s.