This debut album from South London metallers Bloodloss is a short sharp shock of an introduction to their heavily American influenced sound. Weighing in at just under half an hour, the six tracks on offer on ‘The Struggle’ are a crushing blend of US style metalcore and groove metal. It’s by no means a unique sound that the five-piece have come up with, but it’s one they execute with some real precision and passion.

Bloodloss go straight for the throat with the opening title track. A persistent groove-filled riff and crash of a drum roll offers a very short introduction to singer Matt Hobbs’ growl. When going at full-pelt his vocals are similar to Mark Hunter (Chimaira) or Randy Blythe’s (Lamb of God) but Matt makes use of a melodic voice with clean vocals for nearly half the track. The riffs are machinegun like, but let up nicely for the guitar solos.

‘This Still Remains’ continues the fury and is perhaps the standout track from this small offering. It has another jagged riff, but with a real good mix of outright aggression with a sing-along chorus and another great guitar solo to top it all. There is no time to catch your breath; the rest of the album is just as hard-hitting to the end.

If you are a fan of any of the big names in American metal of the last decade or two, this will certainly be of interest to you. Bloodloss channel the energy and aggression of bands like Chimaira and All That Remains while putting in some awesome shred-work more like Machine Head or Pantera. What’s more, it’s all done to a high quality.

This is a great debut package from the London crew. Whilst not treading too much new ground with this half dozen offering of songs, they still sound exciting and already pretty much the full package. ‘The Struggle’ should ensure that the band continue to get picked up for some high profile tours where they will no doubt attract plenty of new followers.

Definitely one to watch out for…

8/10

‘The Struggle’ is out now.

For fans of: Lamb of God, Chimaira, and Pantera.