From their record label’s website, “There are elements of hardcore, punk, crust, noise rock, heavy post rock and indie rock in BLESSINGS‘ sound…there are moments that remind of AT THE DRIVE IN and moments that remind of CONVERGE, sometimes even in the same track, and the Gothenburg four-piece merges these very disparate ends of the spectrum of heavy guitar music into a cohesive, intriguing and idiosyncratic sound. Still loud and confrontational, the elements of repetition and trance- incurring moods and riffing became more prominent.” The album has seven songs and “Raised on Graves” is first. The opening tones are tense, followed by thick meaty bass notes. You can feel the song about to explode, and in comes a heavy riff, with plenty of darkness under foot. The vocals vary…sometimes raging, other times (fairly) calm, and they are indeed hard to pigeon-hole.

“Strings of Red” has firmer tones that are still very dark in scope. I get some hints of Sludge Metal and even Doom Metal here, and the electronics push the song into Psychedelic tendencies. The ending even has some slightly jovial tones. “Clean” is another song that begins with tension. For me, it’s like the early morning fog refusing to lift. It crawls forward like a child trying to gain his footing.  “No Good Things” combines hardened thick bass notes with playful vocals and background elements, and the juxtaposition couldn’t be more pronounced. It’s almost like watching a killer prepare meticulously for his next death but not carrying it out. “Allt Vi Kan Ge Är Upp” has desolate tones from the main riff…still heavy as fuck, but more despondent. It’s almost like a sore that keeps worsening, until the pain becomes nearly unbearable. The harmonized vocals are nice.

“Copper + Dirt” also has some playful tones intermixed with the blackness, and it’s a jolt of energy as well; a short two minutes. “Through Veils of Glass and Silica” is the final song, and it’s another combination of deep anger and emotional depression. The point is capped again and again with massive strikes of drums and riffs, as it driving it home while beating you over the head with a sledgehammer. This was a curiously dark album that explored many different genres of Metal…most notably, Doom, Sludge, Hardcore, and even some psychedelica. Through every song, there was a thread of hopelessness interwoven with the anger, and it leaves the listener unable to decide which emotion is more real.