The Bled - Pass the Flask (2003)

The Bled is the story of a band that started with their best foot forward, and then tripped and broke their ankle and were never able to recover. Back in 2003 The Bled's 'Pass the Flask' set the standard for metalcore. At the time the concept of metalcore was fairly (in a relative sense) new. There were not a lot of metalcore bands around, to put it this way, if you were to go to warped tour there might be 3...4 sets where you could see a breakdown. Nowadays you can't walk 10 ft without hearing 'dum....dumdumdum dumm......dumdummm......dumdumdum dummm.' So while 'Pass the Flask' holds up as a great metalcore album today, back in 2003 it was THE metalcore album. Two years later the band released 'Found in the Flood', which was the most disappointing release I've ever had the displeasure of purchasing. "It's The Bled's new album, it's gotta be epic, right?" WRONG. They took everything that was great about Pass the Flask and threw it in the garbage, instead opting for the generic, bland, uninspired Screamo sound of the time. Even IF they were going to change their sound, they could have done it so much better, it feels like no effort was put into Found in the Flood, if there was it was just finding new ways to make it more 'mainstream'. It is, in my opinion, the Definitive "Sell Out" album. 2007 brought us 'Silent Treatment' which felt like damage control, they re-embraced their heavy side and combined it with the new sound of Found in the Flood, what came out was...eh. It sounds the same as the swarm of other Metalcore acts out right now, they don't do a single thing to stand out from the pack. The Bled might be happy being just an 'average' band, but I'll always be disappointed. They could have been up there with Everytime I Die, but they opted for the easier route. It's a shame....a damn shame.

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