I think it's more than obvious that THE BLEEDING were named after the famous CANNIBAL CORPSE song. Now, this band is definitely one of those you should keep an eye out. They were formed in 2010, in London, England (UK). They have been active since then, and have released the following materials since then: "Demo" in 2012, which was a bit longer than 10 minutes and it contained 3 songs. They released an EP "Death Eternal" the next year in 2013, and after 4 years of silence, their debut full-length also got released. The EP had 6 songs, and it was around 23 minutes long, whilst the full-length album, "Rites of Absolution" has 8 of them, 7 original ones and a cover of DEATH. It's a bit sad to see that the band from the point they were formed until this very day were never contacted by any label. All of their material was independently, aka self-released. Now, let's dive into their newest album.

It starts off with "Precognition", which is kind of an obscure, old-school, "ancient" oriented intro track, a bit shorter than a minute. I really like its atmosphere. "Consumed Existence" is really kicking off with sharp bass lines, a lot of talented drumming, lots of furious riffs, a lot of Thrash and Death Metal combinations, mostly old-school vocals. It's more than obvious who influences these guys. By the way, the album itself is exactly half an hour long, which is cool, being it's the longest material to date so far. "Dreams of Hatred" is the third song, and once again the Thrash oriented vocals keep dominating over the really raw, strong, and powerful, Death Metal oriented riff-work. What makes this band special is the fact that although they are oriented in creating a sound from two decades ago, they still focus on keeping the production tight and pretty clean. "Crook and Flail" is a heavier type of song, and it's the longest song on the entire album. It starts slow, with lots of non-improvised, pretty on point riffs. The vocals are still sounding the same, but I understand and it's acceptable in general. I'm experiencing some interesting solos on this track, too.

The title-track comes on, "Rites of Absolution". Once again a song dominated by the instrumental parts at the very beginning, where the vocals only later show up. Still, the beginning scream really surprised me, which was a lot Power and Thrash oriented. The growls keep going, but this track is still really aggressive and extreme in its own way. If I may, I'd give this track the "most old-school" prize. It totally doesn't sound like it was recorded this year, but like a lot longer ago. "One Way Out" is sounding a bit like the previous ones, excluding the previous one. "Death Eternal" is a nice way to finish off all the work the band has prepared for this album, at least the original work, written by them. "Open Casket" is a really well-produced, well-recorded cover of the legendary DEATH. Not a lot to say about it, but the vocals, the instruments, everything is on point. Even the vocalist, whose vocals have sounded pretty much the same throughout the entire album managed to cover it like it was supposed to be covered. If you like TESTAMENT, DEATH, OVERKILL or CANNIBAL CORPSE, you know what to do then.