Review: Ashestoangels – 'How To Bleed'

we are the horror cult, the lost and lonely souls” and would easily slot into the soundtrack of ‘Corpse Bride’ or any other Tim Burton film you can think of. Second track ‘Not In My Name’ is a lesson in how to write a song that will go down a storm at a gig, with its gloriously singable chorus and emo/punk sensibility. Lead single ‘Find Hell’ is also packed with lush emo rock, as well as the line “these were never the fucks that you told me to give”: brilliant; whilst ‘break up song’ ‘I Could Never Miss You’ combines the moroseness of AFI with the catchy rock of ‘Black Parade’ era My Chemical Romance. Each song is, in fact, very well crafted and executed: all around the three minute mark (so young minds don’t wander), and written to wring both maximum emotion from the listener and maximum reaction from fans in a live setting. There’s the odd bit of clumsy imagery, such as ‘Light Me Up’s cigarette allegory, but on the whole, this is a terrific album. The whole band have grown in both confidence and ability, with frontman Crilly, in particular, proving to be quite the versatile vocalist, whether he’s channelling his inner Placebo in ‘Down We Go’ and ‘Bound and Broken’, or his punk core in ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. They are also clearly expanding their songwriting horizons, as can be seen in the final two tracks: ‘Ghost In the Machine’ is all subdued piano and genuinely affecting lyrics, while ‘How To Bleed’ slides headfirst into ‘best track of the album’ with its biting lyrics and snappy-as-hell riffs. Mightily impressive stuff. New Grave is going from strength to strength in 2016, and Ashestoangels are certainly at the cutting edge of the subgenre. If you’re at all into goth rock and the glory days of MCR or simply like emo songs about monsters, ‘How To Bleed’ is certainly an album worth checking out. Ashestoangels’ ‘How To Bleed’ tour sees the band play the following dates: APRIL Thursday 21st: Newcastle Friday 22nd: Glasgow Saturday 23rd: Leeds Monday 25th: Bristol Tuesday 26th: Manchester Wednesday 27th: Chester Thursday 28th: Birmingham Saturday 30th: London See the band’s website for details Review: Melanie Brehaut]]>

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