BLOOD STAIN CHILD

After reading numerous press releases about this act, you set yourself up for some serious and interesting work. Genre-blending products often turn out to be quite compelling. What we have here is a soup of melodic death, speed-power, modern metal, and melodic metalcore, all stirred with a spoon of electronic embellishments. The resulting dish is edible, yet porridge-like. Perhaps that was exactly what the musicians were aiming for. However, there is nothing new in their music. Anyone who has listened to any PAIN album will find BLOOD STAIN CHILD's electronic elements not only far from unique but not even remotely distinctive. Fans of modern Swedish metal are equally unlikely to discover anything groundbreaking in the Japanese band's output. On the other hand, there will be plenty of listeners who categorically dislike the way vocals are layered over the music. The harsh vocals are outright annoying at times, while the clean singing sounds thoroughly trivial. Blatant borrowings from LINKIN PARK and similar acts representing modern American mass-market fare are also hard to count as a plus. The press releases also emphasize that the band has an entirely European sound and has no connection to j-rock whatsoever — well, that is very noticeable indeed. Perhaps if the musicians had drawn on the legacy of classic Japanese rock, the result might have been interesting. As it stands, we are faced with an entirely derivative work in terms of content and, setting aside the mixing and mastering, largely second-rate in its qualitative components.