90. Single Review of Bound in Blood by Against I
Originally Published February 10th, 2025
About the Artist
I was very excited to listen to this band. It has been a few months since I’ve reviewed a metal band. I don’t play metal anymore but metal has always been a big part of my musical upbringing. My friend and guitar mentor was a big fan of Metallica, so when he was teaching me songs, chords, or riffs to play, it was usually derived from something Metal. Being a 90’s teen, I also had a decent exposure to a variety of different artists who claimed to be metal, or at least influenced by, that would inspire the several sub-genres of metal today: Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, TOOL and A Perfect Circle, Korn, and many others were in constant rotation in my cd player. Then later in college, my roommate was a film major who was the frontman of two metal bands. One of them actually has a profile on Spotify; Vilejive.
Musical genres, since the 90’s and early 2000’s have really moved into a metaphorical chemistry lab and genres have been poured and mixed into a number of empty beakers creating a plethora of sub-genres. The 90’s had the last of the Heavy Metal hair-bands carry through, then brought gothic metal, the birth of darker house music, metal rap, etc. Then, the 2000’s saw the evolution of Emo start from a folk-punk style to a darker, goth-infused style, then blend with metal to form genres like Screamo. These varieties and mixtures of music were introduced into the Metal scene and soon, we had genres breaking into categories like Death Metal, Black Metal, and on and on. Each genre providing a diverse sound, a diverse style.
After listening to Against I, I couldn’t help but notice how perfectly they represent this evolution of music. They navigate through their songs masterfully, representing a diverse catalog of influences claiming loyalty to the metal genre. Instrumentally, they feature organic performances from guitars, bass, and drums, and they also showcase talent in programming, synths, and other electric/digital infused styles that really make them a dynamic group.
Tomorrow will be February 11th and will mark the three-year anniversary this sensational Swedish band debuted, as it was in 2022 that Against I would release their first single, Scum. Exactly one month later. They would release their debut multi-track work, the EP entitled O.M.G., a 6- song record that would feature Scum, as well as 2 remixes of their debut release.
It would be a year before Against I would release more music, but the wait would be worth it. On May 29th, 2023, they would release their debut LP, an album entitled Cárnivál of Excéss. This 13-song, 52 minute EP would feature SCUM, and two remixes of the title track of the prior year’s EP; O.M.G. (Misssuicide Remix) and O.M.G. (Teknovore Remix). This album would showcase a dynamic growth in performance and production for Against I, with songs like Fleshride that feature more advanced sound and growth stylistically.
The following year, Against I would release their first single in two years, Death Defined, which would be the single to their forthcoming follow-up to Cárnivál of Excéss; the 7-song LP, Destruction Lullaby. This 27-minute album would once again show an evolution in production value as the band continued to experiment with their sound. To date, Destruction Lullaby is their most promising work. Releasing on May 3rd of 2024, this work really showed a concentration in layering and perfecting the guitar performances. Additionally, a major change in percussion took place, as they now featured a live drum performance vs. programmed percussions which had been the norm prior to this album.
Staying in 2024, Against I would follow up their sophomore album with Songs for the Dying, their second LP release of the year. This 11-song, 43-minute record released on November 29th and it opens with the song that was actually nominated for a review, Bound in Blood.
About the Song
Bound in Blood is the opening track off of Against I’s 3rd Album, Songs for the Dying. It was released on November 29th, and at 4-minutes, features vocals, guitars, bass, drums and layered synths.
About the Music
Bound in Blood opens with a sustained instrumental build performed by guitars, bass, and drums. Upon resolution, the instruments transition to layered riffs and the drums incorporate double-kick percussion on the kick drums. The vocals follow and are performed in a scream style. Vocals are layered. The vocals are also performed more spoken word or rap, versus melodic singing. I wouldn’t consider this as rap metal though. So, don’t get hung up on the “rap” description. It’s more like singing in monotone, deliberately.
As the chorus is performed, there is a layered lead guitar part that is played as parallel octave 32nd notes, playing a minor melody. This is accented with a synth chorus part that supports the melody, giving it a haunting effect.
The bass guitar does a phenomenal job of marrying the guitars and the drums. He provides such a thick bottom end to the sound, it really leaves a lot of room for creative freedom for the guitars.
The drums also turn in a solid performance as they are dynamically impressive throughout. The fills played are precisely on point and the drummer doesn’t overdo the amount of fills played. There is a time sequence change at the bridge where the band moves over to sustained triplets. The transition is so smooth and I attribute this to how well this was executed by the percussion. That and how the bass stayed right with the kit. This is a very complex instrumental part. The performances of these instrumentalists are very impressive.
Final Thoughts
Every genre of music holds its special place with their fans. Music is multilingual, multicultural; it’s diverse in as many ways as one can possibly imagine. It’s how we all connect to it. As I am a fan of many genres of music, I feel different ways about different genres.
The thing that is special about Metal, to me, is that I have a deep sensory connection to it. I can listen to Metal and close my eyes, and I will instantly be transported to some club or bar and I can hear the crowd, taste the beer, and smell the sweat from the crowd that have been going crazy in the pit for each act.
Against I is a band that definitely reaffirms my love for Metal. I really enjoy listening to their catalog of work and hearing their growth from their first release to their last. I can really hear how they are figuring things out. How, in the beginning, they may have a concept of how they want to do something and, in their later releases, they’ve figured it out. The evolution of their percussion. Their production. There has been an increasing progress in their music as they continue to release music.
Not only are they improving, their strengths are constant. The vocal performance, the guitars (I feel the guitars have consistently been good AND they have improved because of the improvement of production quality), the bass.
It all sums up to this: Against I is a solid Metal band. And they’re on the rise. Seeing this path of progress, I am really excited to see where it takes them.
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