Bloodlined Calligraphy
“They Want You Silent”
Facedown Records

Female fronted hardcore is really tough for me to like. It took me nearly three albums and seeing them about 15 times before I started to get into Walls of Jericho, so needless to say Bloodlined Calligraphy has their work cut out for them.

Ally French screams her head off on this release. If I didn’t know who the singer of the band was, I would have assumed it was a guy screaming and not a girl. She certainly has the pipes on her to scream with the best of them.

The band while doing what they do well, is very generic. It’s not something I’m listening to, trying to expect the next greatest album, because it’s not a great album. It’s an average, maybe slightly above average album at best.

Hardcore or Metalcore has progressed or tried to progress so much, that bands are trying to go outside their boundaries and try new musical styles and they often fail. Bloodlined Calligraphy kept the music as hard as ever from their debut EP on Strike First Records. The only change coming is that there is no longer any singing on the new album at all. Ally French has decided to go to a steady scream approach to all the songs, and that benefits them so much. There are still some singing/spoken word parts, but it’s not every song, and every other verse like most bands try to do.

Candace from Walls of Jericho even makes a guest appearance on the CD, to try and get the mood going with the song. The band have given us a straightforward metal core release and we all should take it for what it is. They didn’t try to outdue themselves with different styles and that is why this album is listenable.

Reviewed by: Chris Buehler
Reviewed on: July 12, 2005