Seeming to have come from nowhere, a new release gaining a lot of widespread hype is the demo from a Scottish vegan straight edge band called Gaia Bleeds. However, I believe the hype is justified – an incredibly talented group, their demo consists of 3 tracks, all of which heavier and more packed with riffs and slams than the last.
The first track, ‘Intro/Harvest’ is a great precursor to the no bullshit mayhem about to ensue – reminiscent of older era Brutality Will Prevail, the initial intro is that of a slower, more gentle guitar, however it soon builds more menacingly as more elements are included and less than two minutes in the once calm, almost soporific twinkling of the guitar quickly drops into a beautiful infusion of straight edge metalcore (specifically older bands such as Earth Crisis) and the newer wave of beatdown via the 2010’s (Contagion, Murder Circuit, Malevolence) creating that sound so heavy even your mum would be spin kicking people (if she was at a GB show.)
Whatever words you want to label them with, whatever artists you want to draw comparison from, there’s one thing to be certain of from the GB Demo – this is heavy as a ten tonne truck and this is a band to keep an eye out for in 2016 as this demo is oozing with potential and judging by the reaction in the online community has sparked enough curiosity for them to be headlining bigger shows this time next year – the weekend that passed with the release of their demo, they played their first set of shows with the likes of Splitknuckle.
From the first listen, you just know from when it drops into Harvest, right up until the disgustingly heavy outro on closing track Red Coats – from start to finish, the riffs, the blast beats and the beatdowns will knock any pit into a frenzy of violence in the live setting. So, if there’s anything to be said in summary – when the opportunity arises, listen to the Gaia Bleeds demo on their bandcamp page, they’re heavy as anything and are worthy of the attention. Furthermore, as soon as there is a show in your town, get yourself down to it, punch somebody to the song ‘Red Coats’ and support British hardcore. If you sleep on this band, you WILL regret it.
FFO: Earth Crisis, xRepentancex, Riffs