Leeched – You Took the Sun When You Left (Prosthetic)
Wednesday, 15th August 2018
You can tell that Leeched aren’t going to bring much happiness and rainbows based on the title of this alone (that and their EP, Nothing Will Grow from the Rotten Ground). Consider Leeched marketing as advertised, as their brand of metallic hardcore is gritty, bleak, and just as angry as you’d hope it to be. This filthy metal/hardcore has been gaining momentum, and Leeched are just as disgustingly delectable as the rest.
Dark and ominous easily describes the sometimes suffocating sound of Leeched, with a healthy dollop of aggression and rage. It’s not outside the growing norm for this particular field, but it sure does ooze out a pretty filthy good time. The guitars are lovingly downtuned to allow for maximum crunchiness, and when they decide to really go for those slow, mammoth-crawls, it’s quite destructive in tone (see the closing title track). It’s hard not to feel the forward momentum that they put into the music and riffing, regardless of tempo. The faster cuts, enriched with a slight dose of grind (see “Rope”) are searing with rage and attitude. The variety is there – for an album with an explosive core, there’s much to draw you back in once that ‘take your breath away’ frenetic charge starts to lessen. Some slight melodies at the right moments (a small upbeat piece on “A Mouth Full of Dirt” for instance) are enough to make you take notice, even if they aren’t the main attraction.
A feeling of desperation and anger loads up You Took the Sun When You Left with more residue than you might think. There’s a reason more bands are gravitating towards this darker and more mysterious hardcore (with a metallic edge) – it has all the aggression that one could crave, yet feels more complete than a simple one-dimensional bruising. Consider Leeched a welcome addition to the fold with their first full-length.
