Blessthefall – Witness
January 26th, 2010 by RBRArizonian hardcore warriors, Blessthefall, are one of those bands destined to become famous and it certainly seems as though they’re right on track with doing so. Since their debut full length ‘His last walk’ was released back in 2007, the band have had a multitude of successes including reaching #32 in the US billboard charts with ‘His last walk’, touring with bands such as Escape the Fate, Protest the Hero & Silverstein, the band also completed the entire circuit of 2007’s Warped tour.
In late 2007, vocalist Craig Mabbitt made his departure for personal reasons and the band continued on the current tour with bassist Jared Warth taking Mabbitt’s place on vocals. A little while on and the band announced they had found a new frontman in the form of Take the Crown’s Beau Bokan, there was high anticipation for the bands next release.
Disappointment is the only way I can sum up how I felt after listening to ‘witness’ for the first time.
Although the record is well written and follows that signature Blessthefall sound that we all came to know and love on ‘His last Walk’, it is lacking the power clearly present in the bands first album and is somewhat lacking in originality with opening song ‘2.0’ sounding very similar to The Word Alives’ song ‘Casanova Rodeo’, the majority of songs sounding almost exactly as those on the previous album and with Bokan sounding so similar to Mabbitt on ‘His last walk’, it almost seems as though he and the band had never parted ways.
The band may not have lived up to the anticipation surrounding the release of ‘Witness’, but it shouldn’t go unrecognised that the band have definitely done themselves proud with a few songs on the album, notably Skinwalkers, Stay Still, To Hell and Back & Hey Baby, Here’s That Song you Wanted. Which are the kind of songs that make you want to go crazy and sing along to every word of them, and have become contenders for bands to watch out for in the future.
Hannah Cole
6/10
