Lifestyles of Bleeding Album Review

Nort’s new nine-track album is obviously a parent free zone but once the lyrics kick in you might need to hold your mammas hand. Best described as an unrelenting audio assault and not for the faint hearted, Lifestyle of Bleeding has crushing guitars, ballistic bass lines and ruthless drums that will render you incapacitated and requiring a medical certificate.  This album slaps you right in the face with precise attacks, which is what metal music is all about. It’s just so damn good; you should inflict its aggressiveness on yourself and friends ASAP.

Really this CD should come with a bigger advisory warning or require an ID to purchase. Not because of the offensively fantastic and explicit lyrics but because it is so intense it might turn you into a head-banging moshing maniac before you know it. Bring it on I say.

Nort is a seriously heavy band who have perfected a relentless and powerful resonance with their third full length album to date. The overall sound has similarities to Fear Factory but not so industrial. High praise indeed since, in my opinion, FF is one of the best metal bands around. Thankfully the mastering and mixing has retained Nort’s raw sound, which I hope to be lucky enough to catch live.

The real advantage of their music is its dynamic range; the lyrics often break out of their harsh delivery into beautiful melodies similar in style to Maynard James Keenan from A Perfect Circle and Tool. At times reminiscent of Jakob, Nort’s multifaceted technique gives the album some excellent range and scope. The beauty of Not Forgotten (a wonderful interlude) working magically into the intro of the sixth track Caving In is one of the best metal songs I’ve heard in a long time. If the deep and spooky intro that slowly builds into head-banging nirvana doesn’t cause you to lose your inhibitions, I don’t know what will.

There’s a few ‘Americanised’ riffs going on but they are delivered with such clever inflections and original style that Nort is everything you could ever want from your new favourite metal band. The seventh track Emulsion is a pinnacle of intense layers of heaviness so drenched with power my stereo nearly melted. Just to contrast the overall heaviness is D.J.B.S., a lovely jazz/reggae mix of musical magnificence that proves this band has real depth to their song writing skills.

The unrelenting and unpretentious quality of the title track, Lifestyles of Bleeding, with its brilliant drum fills make this song a real stand out. An excellent end to what can only be summed up as one of the best metal releases to come out of New Zealand.