Sunday 13 July 2014

BLEEDING KANSAS

GenresPunk / Math Metal / Hardcore / Metalcore / Screamo / Alternative
Related artistsJackson 9 and Horse The Band.
CountryBurbank, California USA
Years Active2001-2009
Song: "Retract the Altitude (demo)"
Album: "The Great Redneck Hope split"
Year: 2004
Label(s): Self Released / Coldbringer Records / Arms Reach Recordings / Abacus Recordings / Plastic Airlines / Lots Of Love
This post's artist is from the June 2014 Mix. This is track #1.
You can download the July Mix#7 right here or get the new August Mix#8 here.
For fans ofBotchCreeper, Officer Jones And His Patrol Car Problems, Llynch, The Minor Times, Achilles, Curl Up And Die, Engineer, Akimbo, Norma Jean, Converge, Breather Resist, Anodyne, CanyonsArbogast, Bravo Fucking Bravo, This Ship Will Sink, Callow, The Chariot, Eaves, I Hate Sally, Every Time I Die, They And The ChildrenFurnace, (Lone) Wolf And CubGhostlimb, Ken Mode, Nous EtionsGray Ghost, Deadguy, Narrows, Since By Man and The Abandoned Hearts Club.

BLEEDING KANSAS played an amazing style of mathy metalcore with a touch of Southern flair, and shared many things in common with other notable bands of the 2000s, such as Botch, The Minor Times, Officer Jones And His Patrol Car ProblemsNorma Jean and even Akimbo. I was first introduced to the band after picking up their rare split 7" with The Great Redneck Hope (which I'm selling, much to my dismay, here). Those 2 fantastic songs led me to acquire their split 12"with La Mantra De Fhiqria, which is also very rare (for sale here) and that split introduced me to La Mantra De Fhiqria who are also amazing. At this point I was sold and I attempted to pick up BLEEDING KANSAS' entire discography, which you can download below (save for the demo 7").

I would argue that 'Dead Under Decor' is BLEEDING KANSAS' ultimate release, spanning 14 tracks and being one of the band's three BK-only releases, as they have quite a splits. The songs located here are brimming with production, not the cheesy kind, but instead the slickness is simply a mirror to capture a clean and undistorted view of what the band was going for. Basically you can hear all that's supposed to be going on, and nothing else. Tracks like "Right By Your Side", "Retract The Altitude" and "This Song, Will, Fuck You"  all have equal aggressiveness and deep set hooks embedded in the harshness that should have almost every listener biting and bobbing along in no time.

Much like Botch (although not quite as good, in this reviewer's opinion) BLEEDING KANSAS mixed mathy hardcore with metal flair, some sweet, sweet licks and a punk mentality. The older material, mainly the split with La Mantra De Fhiqria and '1859', are certainly rawer versions of the later material, especially in the vocal department (as he ends up sounding more like Seth from Funeral Diner/Who Calls So Loud... and Shawn from Coma Regalia). This budding sound was much more rooted in screamo and punk than chunky/mathy metal like the latter stuff, and although a bit different is just as good. The 12" split boasted this style the most, while '1859' was the bridge that joins the new and old, while sounding more like 'Dead Under Decor' than the early material. '1859' is my second favourite, with gems such as "Love with a .45", and "A Simple Hello".

In 2011 I found out, much to my surprise, that BLEEDING KANSAS recorded and released a split 12" with Cathedrals. I won't go into the gory details...but I was not a fan. Not even close. I am in love with many clean vocals, but they really don't work here - especially on a split with Cathedrals! I've read the band had splits with Jazz Hands and Horse The Band but have never come across them. This also may be a crock of shit.

Let's wrap this up. It's catchy as hell for heavy music, and in being heavy it never truly gets grindy or overly insane. If you like Botch and old Norma Jean you'd be off your rocker to pass up on BLEEDING KANSAS.

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DISCOGRAPHY
Click )==>here<==( to download the band's complete discography (minus demo/live) in mp3 form.

2003 - Bleeding Kansas 7"EP (this is the only release I don't have, someone...please...)
2003 - La Mantra De Fhiqria split 12"LP

2004 - 1859 cd/12"EP
2004 - The Great Redneck Hope split 7"EP

2005 - Listen or Pose (Abacus Records) compilation cd
2005 - Live 2x7"

2006 - Dead Under Decor cdLP

2009 - Cathedrals split 12"LP

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(2004) BLEEDING KANSAS - "Love with a .45" (from '1859')

(2003) BLEEDING KANSAS - "For Now It's Too Late" (from 'La Mantra De Fhiqria' split)

(2004) BLEEDING KANSAS - "Rocks and Suffocation" (from 'The Great Redneck Hope' split)

(2005) BLEEDING KANSAS - "You've Got Your Demons" demo (from 'Listen or Pose' comp)

(2006) BLEEDING KANSAS - "Right By Your Side" (from 'Dead Under Decor')

(2006) BLEEDING KANSAS - "This Song, Will, Fuck You" (from 'Dead Under Decor')

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BLEEDING KANSAS out-of-print discography mp3 download (minus the demo/live 7"s) / additional links

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