Hemlock

Bleed the Dream

Candlelight Records 2007

Las Vegas has never been considered a hot bed of extreme music but Hemlock has chosen to call it home.  Sporting massive mosh-inducing break downs and touring partner's that are a metalcore hero's dream(Slipknot, Disturbed, Hatebreeed, Chimaira, etc.) these guys are determined to put their hometown on the map for something other than gambling and organized crime.  However these days I am so jaded and burnt out with Metalcore that it takes something truly exceptional to perk up my ears and grab my attention and Hemlock do not meet those lofty expectations.  They do little to set themselves apart from the pack.  Just listen to the opening Shout-out on Nobody Knows which proceeds along into standard riffing and then the shouts carry on into the chorus which seems so completely derivative of every generic metalcore band I almost faint from boredom.  The riffs throughout Bleed the Dream are uninspiring and all the tricks Hemlock throws in seem so cliché rather than innovative or even all that creative.  The gimmicks include clean vocals, acoustic guitars, and guitar harmonic squeals a la Korn(on Jacob's Ladder).  Now with that said, a band does not have to break new ground in order for me to enjoy them, but some part of their music has to be enjoyable in some manner for me.  But I find almost nothing redeeming in Bleed the Dream.  I am not sure why Candlelight signed these guys as they seem really out of place with the rest of their roster.  But I guess they were aiming for some sort of diversity.  Well it failed as Hemlock to me fall in line with endless line of trendy metalcore bands currently flooding the market.