Long Island’s Internal Bleeding has been through it; from arguably being one of the progenitors of ‘slam’ death metal with their first two albums, (featuring our own Frank Rini on vocals) then mixing even more hardcore elements, which seemed to divide fans, then lots of member turnover, label jumping, a 10 year hiatus where they fell behind the likes of Suffocation, Dying Fetus and such as far as popolarity and productivity. And then a pretty solid comeback with 2014s Imperium, then the tragic death of drummer Bill Tolley, and a slight step back with 2018s Corrupting Influence.

Phew. No wonder they are ready to Settle all Scores with album number 7.

And they certainly do Settle All Scores on this album. It delivers everything you’d expect from these Long Island legends. Even with more member turnover, as vocalist Steve Worley of Sacrifical Slaughter replaces Joe Marchese, and bassist Ryan Giordano (ex- Escuela Grind and ex-Flesh Tomb) replaces Shaun Kennedy. The core trio of original member Chris Pervelis (guitars), as well as Kyle Eddy (drums) and Chris McCarthy (guitar/backing vocals), keep things familiar as they did on the last two efforts, blending hardcore 2-stepping grooves and slamming death metal into an immediately recognizable stew of East Coast Death Metal gabagool.

As with pretty much all their releases, the emphasis is on pit-moving grooves and breakdowns that will induce immediate neck snappage. Worley brings a little gruffer death metal vocals than the prior guys, even if still backed by McCarthy’s more hardcore shouts.

At a brisk 30 minutes or so, the album gets right to it with “Intangible Pact” and never lets up, with a palpable anger present in each track from the growl-along chorus of “Settle All Scores”, personal “Crown of Insignificance”, burly standout “Prophet of Deceit”, stomping “Enforced Compliance” (which even has a rare solo), hugely groovy “Glorify the Oppressor” and moodier, more varied album closer “Deliberate Desecration”.

It’s hardly a game-changer, and each song sounds pretty similar, but you know what you are walking into when you hit play on an IB album. And it’s clear that modern bands like Sanguisugabogg, etc were and are still heavily influenced by IB.

The only downside I’m going to gripe about is the production, mainly the bottom end. The guitars sound amazing, crisp and deadly sharp. But the drums and bass are just not there. And this type of music commands a heftier lower end to make those grooves and 2 steps fucking shatter glass and wreck speakers. “Prophet of Deceit” should have. It just doesn’t.

And as with Corrupting Influence and Imperium, some pals show up to help out, as Skinless’s Sherwood Webber, former IB vocalist Joe Marchese, and of course, OG IB growler Frank Rini appear, with the latter providing a super massive and ridiculously long album-ending growl on “Deliberate Desecration”.

[Visit the band's website]

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