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IN THIS MOMENT
Blood

Century Media (2012)
Rating: 6/10

There have been many changes in the In This Moment camp since the release of their last album, A Star-Crossed Wasteland (2010). With new members in tow (rhythm guitarist Randy Weitzel and drummer Tom Hane), the Los Angeles, California-based band embark upon the release of Blood, their fourth album and also their most confusing. An album that’s prone to wander, Blood, is one of those albums that takes some patience when trying to uncover its sweet spots.

For the new album, the band seems to be going for a more crossover sound, but not in a commercial rock way (as they did with 2008’s The Dream). There are a handful of tunes here that are electro-effect tinged and it really draws you away from the song.

I’m a big fan of incorporating these elements but the band’s use of them on songs like ‘Whore’ and the title track come off about as generic as they possibly could. While the title track attempts to get pretty damn heavy, the effects constantly disrupt the flow and the guitars come off sounding like an 80s industrial experiment. It’s even more of a shame on this particular song because vocalist Maria Brink turns in one of her best vocal performances since the band’s 2007 debut, Beautiful Tragedy. ‘Whore’ has a near hip hop beat behind it that makes it catchy and cringe-worthy all at once, leaving much to be desired.

The album’s end ‘11:11’ and the interludes ‘Aries’ and ‘It Is Written’ are as pointless as they come, simply filling up space and disrupting any momentum the band may have hoped to achieve. It’s a bit annoying to hear one of the best of the new wave of rock bands bogged down by these things.

The album’s good does manage to outweigh the bad though. ‘You’re Gonna Listen’ is a blistering assault as well as one of the few instances where the effects enhance the song. The power balladry of ‘Scarlet’ is a huge arena anthem that Brink’s lyrics pull back into the cold reality that drew legions of fans to this band in the first place.

‘Comanche’ is a heavy, similar to Otep, style pummeling that predictably echoes “Let me hear your war cry!” over and over. This is similar to what the band tried to do with ‘The Gun Show’ on A Star-Crossed Wasteland, only they nail it on this one. I’m very confused as to why this song doesn’t open the album and I sincerely hope that the band is opening with it live though. Despite musically nailing it though, it’s more than a little lyrically cheesy.

The eerie ‘The Blood Legion’ is another moment where the effects offer something interesting, taking a mediocre song and helping it soar, eventually becoming one of the most memorable tracks on the album on repeated listens.

Overall, Blood, like its predecessor, gets off to a very slow and very uninteresting start but picks up about mid-album. If you took ‘11:11’ off the album, it would finish very strongly as a matter of fact. This seems to me to be a very crucial time in the band’s career as they now have two albums in a row that fail to meet the standards they set on their first two albums. Blood is enjoyable when In This Moment go all out and play to their commercial side and hard to swallow when they try to stay on top of the current trends.

Mark Fisher

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