Twisted Truth

Inhabitants from Earth

The Path of the Warrior

Till we fly

taste it:  listen to Twisted Truth and to the excellent and dark  Inhabitants from Earth at the official website

Sasch - Gesang, Gitarre

Twain - Gitarre

Tschöntzi - Drums

Keep - Keys

Youngster - Bass

recorded in September/October 2003 at the Psycho-House-Studio under the direction of Robert Santolupo

review  by dalia "gryphon_spirit" di giacomo____   

A very strong  Heavy Metal meets an innovative way to express Heavy/ Power and Rock: a way that is not barred from  dark and atmospheric horizons. And indeed Saintsbleed's guitars and drumming  rock a lot but are able to mix , with fresh energy, Power/Rock and  extremely massive Heaviness together with a really dark  attitude, supported by modern effects . 

A breath of oxygen. A fresh  wind in the world  of the Heavy Metal/Power  - style with a great Rock  ground .  Classical Heavy Metal rhythms work  as bridge towards Power phrases but also towards   modern and dark sonorities like happens in the very beautiful song Inhabitants from  Earth  that is the   little impressive  jewel of this 4-tracks EP Twisted Truth. Saintsbleed from Germany, created in 1999,  are able to summon old- school Heavy Metal but putting in it a new vivification through the high energy, the incredible determination, the enthusiasm in playing, the modernity of certain effects in vocals and soundscape, the good use of keyboards ,  the powerful guitars tha are liquid silver, and an effective drumming .

Already hearing  the first  two tracks  from the hi-fi boxes, the first thought  that comes into your mind is " ehi damn  but this  this band is great!...who are they?" Voilà, les jeux sont faits , cause the huge quantity of force  and hyperweight combined with catchy crunchy structures is immediately contagious. And indeed Saintsbleed's   thunderous heaviness is one of their best characteristics: they can be heavy like Iced Earth or Judas Priest, or maybe more, but, inspite of all this, their songs come up being  fresh,  merciless but  agile, thanks to the recurrent thrilling lead, to the catchy and measured anthemic music, to the modernity of ideas and, finally,  to  the agreeable vocals and  backing shouts that  add no weight to the soundscape , on the contrary they lighten  the atmosphere . Vocals' good timbre is not high but agreeably clean: the  only weak point is that   here and there Sasch's voice   should  get even more angriness  . 

Title track Twisted Truth is energy launched to high levels : an uptempo Heavy, with Power flavours. Thunderous drums, good  vocals  and background - shouts. Saintsbleed's  typical  guitar strained thrillings stand out at once, as well as roaring rhythmics soaked by an  amazing hyperheaviness. The song has a nice catchy  structure that includes uptempo bursts,  Power gallopings underlined by  good lead solos,  and  moments of modern slow down pulse.  In one word: Twisted Truth can be much  of what  a Heavy Metal heart needs. 

The second track , Inhabitants from Earth, is  different enough from the other songs: it is darker, much  darker, beginning with an amazing piano and impending background , delivers a kind of atmospheric Heavy, mixed with almost gothic and new industrial attitude (notice, in the background, some synthetic  "noises") . Rather far from Power, but still with the typical  thrilling guitar , Inhabitants from Earth conquers with   a fantastic obsessing loop- riffing and  discrete but effective keys. It delivers  well calibrated vocal space effects  ,  a hammering ultra heavy bridge, rocking guitar solos and a brilliant musical catchiness, wit the lead that, in some solo passages, triggers the melody  . It is a song that will appeal to so many  Metalheads , no  matters the genre to which they "belong". Lyrics too contribute to provide that  feeling of unhappiness.

Somewhere in Mind we´re rotting slowly

Calling ourselves the one & only

Longing for a World that do not exist

Desired Angels but growing Beasts

Broken and divided without hold

Down and down and down we fall

...Inhabitants from Earth...

 The third track The Path of the Warrior is a  lively mixture of Heavy/Power and Rock, with the insertion of the typical backing shoutings, and a certain Helloween influence can be noticed. The title is Path of the Warrior but no fear : Saintsbleed are far from  clichés of swords and heroes and here  the hero-figure is  collapsing into a metaphoric reality of struggle and fight, that can involve many  considerations.  

Corruption, bribe, killer urge

But no one says a word

...

Walkin´ down the Streets and see all this Crime

Everyone knows it´s killing Time

Where are our holy Heroes

They would chase away this evil Vibes

Where are our holy Heroes

The Path of the Warrior was written in their Eyes

Till we fly, the fourth track, is , imo,  highly  influenced by Helloween (around the "Better than raw" era)  , vocals included. The musical  content is really winning and presents also a  note of sadness and nostalgy together with a good lead solo,  but the  refrain  is not the most suitable moment   for  Sasch's vocals that have better moments  in the previous tracks where they get also  more precise identity.

Saintsbleed are really a new hope for Heavy Metal and one of the best new expressions of what the German Heavy/Power/ Rock can do, following  in a brilliant way a kind of national attitude that walks hand in hand with the Death/Thrash soul. In May the band will enter the Studio again: the full length should be on the horizon around July. But whatever  the choice that Saintsbleed will take: whether to underline  the dark and atmospheric aspect like in Inhabitants from Earth (and  it seems this  is  the intention, which i can only second ),  or to underline the  Speed metal /Power influence, the music will be anyway an irresistible  heavy rocking wave  . Once upon a time (it was november 2003) i wished  to find a group that could perform this genre  with dark and freshly innovative patterns . Well, wishes come always true ;)  

Rating: 8.8/10

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