  
Predictability is not a word that has never been
associated with LA’s own female fronted
metalcore act In This Moment, their new album
“Blood” has proved once and for all
that you can always be surprised by a band even
when the singer is a gorgeous little poster child
like Maria Brink, they still have the music to
back it up but they really shake it up really
drastically every single time. With a debut that
fazed them into the generic metalcore stereotype,
the follow up toning it back on the distortion
and focusing more on their technical clean skills;
their claim to fame however was undeniably 2010’s
“A Star-Crossed Wasteland” where they
found their perfect balance of technical clean
licks and riffs, distorted heavy neck breaking
riffs, screams and singing. You’d think
when you find a safe bet you’d stick to
that, but oh no these guys decided to play the
field and push their luck once more.
I wasn’t sure when I started with the album’s
title track “Blood” whether this was
going to be worth the listen or not; it was rap
like singing which caught me completely off guard,
there’s a lot of spoken word parts too,
sub drops and other modern techniques that you’d
never have seen coming in a million years, I find
myself really starting to like it though after
a few listens. Get to “You’re Gonna’
Listen” and you’ll see exactly what
In This Moment have always been about, whilst
it still has the electronic elements and stylistic
choices found predominantly within pop music the
sheer vicious nature of this song keeps the link
from the bands past. It’s absolutely ridiculous
how different this album is yet so familiar, how
they manage to push pop and electronic elements
into their music yet still have people know that
this is In This Moment, “Whore” is
the prime example as this is filled to the brim
with those inclusions making this like more of
a hard rock infused dance track but it’s
still enjoyable and recognisable in terms of style.
Best way to describe it to existing fans would
be to mix “The Dream” with “A
Star-Crossed Wasteland” and then throw in
the sub drops, rap, electronic tones and heavy
dance beats and that’s what you’ve
been blessed with right there. One word I think
this proves that you’ll never be able to
use with this band is stale or repetitive, that
keeps everything fresh and interesting providing
with every album that excitement to find out what
jump has been taken with it. It was a very brave
risk to take providing the success of the previous
album which has luckily this time around proved
a worthy investment.
4.5/5
Review by James Webb
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