Interview by Kris Peters
Two decades into any career and you would be forgiven for starting to grow stale or formulaic. Be it an office job, labouring, or even in the music industry, the old saying familiarity breeds contempt holds firm. But try telling that to Scottish metal outfit Bleed From Within who, after 20 years in the music scene, have reached their peak - their Zenith, if you will.
The Glasgow firebrands are one of the hardest working acts in metal: playing shows globally with everyone from Megadeth to Slipknot, all while writing and regularly releasing monstrous, exhilarating songs. The upward journey reaches new heights on their seventh album, Zenith, which contains the band’s heaviest, catchiest and most intrepid music to date.
The band's first two albums, Humanity (2009) and Empire (2010), made Bleed From Within cult figureheads in the deathcore scene, before Uprising (2013) broadened their palate with groove metal adrenaline and melodic death metal prowess. It also marked their major-label debut, catapulting them onto tours with heavy royalty.
In 2018, the band returned with the ferocious Era. Then, follow-ups Fracture (2020) and Shrine (2022) proved their greatest triumphs to date, intertwining vocalist Scott Kennedy's snarls with Steven Jones' majestic singing. The millions of streams gathered by such singles as The End of All We Know, Into Nothing and Levitate proved Bleed had become the next big thing. Now, on Zenith – announced ahead of career-affirming tours with Slipknot, Trivium and Bullet for My Valentine – the quintet are primed to leap into superstardom.
HEAVY spoke with frontman Scott Kennedy to go deeper into Zenith.
"It feels like we've been waiting so long to drop this album," he sighed. "So, I'm buzzing for it to finally get out. I think it's the best collection of songs we've ever done and I'm desperate for people to hear it."
We ask Kennedy to talk us through what Bleed From Within were going for musically with Zenith.
"To be honest, with Bleed From Within there's never really any concepts or anything like that," he replied. "It's more just about - for me personally - the songs are always about what I'm going through at that point in my life. I always try to write from the heart and write songs that are really meaningful because I don't want to go on stage and sing a song that doesn't really mean anything to me. I don't just want to go on and sing any old shit to the crowd. With Bleeding From Within it's just always about writing the best collection of metal songs that we possibly can, and I truthfully believe that this is the best collection of metal songs we've ever written."
In the full interview, Scott discussed Zenith further, expressing his excitement about what he considers their best work to date. He highlighted the opening track Violent Nature for its heavy and fast nature, and elaborated on the collaborative songwriting process among band members, emphasizing a natural evolution in their music.
Scott also mentioned Bleed From Within's experimentation with various musical elements, including strings and guest vocalists, to achieve a distinctive sound. The discussion wrapped up with a mention of upcoming tour plans and festivals following the album's release.
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