Review of Bhelliom - The Colossal Tragedy

Synopsis:

I guess if I can listen to Christian black metal from Jakarta (Bealiah) and even Puerto Rico (Azmaveth), or even melodic death metal from Columbia (Underthreat), melodic death metal from Singapore shouldn’t be that much of a stretch should it?

Review:

Except for the fact that those bands are pretty solid and Bhelliom are just not very good, plying a second rate form of melodic death metal thrash that sounds as old and tired as the genre itself. To their credit, Bhelliom have no 'core' or American injections, and keep things very close to the source material, while having their own sound, but they just don’t do it particularly well, almost sloppily so, which is a shame as their self released debut Within Nowhere, had some promise.

The thing is, while the band is trying to do something different, in that they seem to be making the typical Gothenburg sound a little choppier and rougher, they are basically gutting the genre’s positives; melodic riffage- and replacing them with a herky jerky structure that has no flow or hooks. It’s like technical melodic death metal/thrash, and frankly, while that sounds promising, it’s more messy than progressive. Personally, I’ll take a rehashed Dark Tranquillity or In Flames done with tightness and energy (i.e Marionette) rather than experimentation done badly.

The thing is, The Colossal Tragedy starts promising enough with a moody somber instrumental intro “Skeleton Of Destiny,” then “The Alternate Vision” barrels in with riffage that won't stick around amid awkward time shifts, sudden solos and gruff underwhelming vocals; and that’s pretty much the M.O for the rest of the album. There’s simply no flow at all: To be truthful “Solace and Fear,” “At One Fail Swoop,” and “Layer by Layer” actually annoy me in their stuttering, uncommitted and forgetful pace and structure. And with only eight songs, the chance to impress is lost and limited.

“Another Sin,” “Swallow and Splinter” and “All the Kings Pawns” at times display moments I would really call “melodic” and “death metal,” but they are still disjointed and broken up by scattershot structures that break up any enjoyment. As a result, Bhelliom don’t really impress me, despite having the Singaporean melodic death metal scene all locked up.

Release Details

Bhelliom

The Colossal Tragedy

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