Blessthefall – Witness

Artist: Blessthefall
Album: Witness
Label: Fearless Records
Purchase: iTunes
Release Date: October 6th, 2009

Overall: 8.5
Music: 9
Lyrics: 7.5
Production: 8

A band losing a member can often spell disaster, or a new beginning. In the case of Blessthefall they lost their lead vocals in the form of Craig Mabbit (now of Escape The Fate), but rather then call it a day as a band they were able to replace him with Beau Bokan on their sophomore release Witness. And the final product is a band reinvigorated, with more energy then ever the ability to rock out has been amplified to a new degree.

The album begins with the anthemic introduction “2.0” which explodes with intense screaming and heart pumping drums that explode with fury once the gang vocals begin. The song leads into the second track “What’s Left Of Me”, that is equally explosive with strong screams and shows off Beau Bokan as a strong and talented power for Blessthefall.

Witness is filled with powerful high points when the band can show off exactly what they do well, shredding guitars and powerful drums that shake your walls. Over top of this all are the Beau Bokan’s superb showing of vocals, whether it’s his ability to sing and hit just the right notes (“God Wears Gucci”), or growling along a super-charged guitar riff (“Hey Baby, Here’s That Song You Wanted”, a standout track), or screaming with all his might (“Last Ones Left”). The combination of instruments and vocals are at a higher level then ever before during this release.

The album is for the most part a very heavy affair. Sometimes there are slightly slow breakdowns, or the finals track “Stay Still” that retains a very slow tone but explodes around the chorus into the anthem it deserves to be. The album is fast, heavy, and intense in every sense of the word. Perhaps there is a lot of repetition of style on Witness but you can’t have to much of a good thing when it comes to music. Blessthefall are being put on the fast track of success with this latest album, discovering what there sound is will only make them the hard rock heroes they are deserving of being in the future.