Arizona Screamo Rockers BlessTheFall releases their sixth studio album ‘Hard Feelings’. Kicking off with the razor cut ‘Wishful Sinking’ which has a Linkin Park spine and some Slipknot anger vocals are thrown into the busy bubbling pot. The five-piece continue the mix ‘n’ match feel with the cascading waterfall of ‘Find Yourself’. ‘Melodramatic’ accelerates out of the traps before morphing into the bands overly familiar conservative sound. The safety net remains in place for ‘Feeling Low’ before ‘Cutthroat’ slices through the main artery of Punk prudence and sips it’s still warm bloody bounty; It’s the song of the album. ‘I’m Over Being Under(rated)’, ‘Sleepless In Phoenix’ and ‘Keep Me Close’ persevere with BlessTheFall’s tried and tested template.’Sakura Blues’ has the slow-burning synthetic sound of light keyboards merging into drums and Chester-esque vocals. Final track ‘Welcome Home’ is no better or worse than any of the others on this strangely subdued release.
Technically ‘Hard Feelings’ works, the arrangement, vocals and production are all A1. However, the album is smothered with so many faux feelings, relationship problems and personal struggles that they all lose meaning before they amalgamate into a one size fit all emotional walk down a dark highway.