We Ain't Leavin' Till You're Bleedin'

Personnel: Randy Carter, Jeff Grossman, Melanie Carter, Brian Fair , Mike D'Antonio (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Dean Baltulonis.
Recording information: 1130 FT (10/2012-11/2012); The Wild Arctic (10/2012-11/2012).
Illustrator: Raf the Mighty.
Jumping into a time machine and setting the destination to "old-school East Coast hardcore," members of Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Overcast, and Cannae join forces as Death Ray Vision to deliver We Ain't Leavin' Till You're Bleedin', a blast of old-fashioned aggression that finds the band looking back to their Boston roots for inspiration. Metalcore in the classic sense, the album delivers hardcore aggression and heavy metal volume, a once ferocious combination that's found itself getting watered down and over-produced as it's grown in prominence. It's clear, however, that Death Ray Vision want to take the sound out of the mall and back to the basement, delivering an album that, while technically solid, still feels pretty coarse. While there's certainly no danger of mistaking We Ain't Leavin' Till You're Bleedin' for an album by Gang Green or Slapshot, Death Ray Vision do a solid job of honoring their hardcore forefathers with an album that captures some of the energy and anger, and with a running time of around 28 minutes, the brevity, of a scene that would be instrumental in the formation of metalcore in the '90s. A lot of "super group" albums can leave listeners asking themselves what the point is, but a band of journeyman metalcore and metallic hardcore veterans paying homage to the scene that spurred them to action not only has a pretty clear sense of purpose, it feels like a gateway for younger fans of Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage to dive into the rough and tumble world of Boston hardcore. ~ Gregory Heaney