Album Review: Bloom Season // Borders

Borders have been on my radar for a few years because they make high energy metalcore. This is fused with grime and rap, similar to Hacktivist. It is all evident on their new album “Bloom Season” which comes out on 18th November.

This album shows what excellent songwriters the band are, with some meaty riffs. They are full of bounce, and the tone is utterly horrible. The guitar in songs like “Suffer” and “Igethigh” make you want to jump around and start moshing. The lyrics deal with mental health and emptiness. I think they are delivered with passion and vulnerability. What’s more this is an album that goes very fast and at breakneck speed. The electronic elements feel fresh, with twists and turns galore. The breakdown riff in “Gaslighter” is gnarly. You can feel the hatred when Jordan Olifent  says, “you fucking bitch.” 

There’s some big names on this record, too, like Cane Hill’s Elijah Witt on the nu metal tinged “Godless”. Oh my word the guitars cut like a frickin knife, and the wordplay between  Olifent and Witt is captivating. When Olifent screams, “I AM GODLESS” quite honestly, my face is a fucking wreck. I mean it’s been like this for the duration of the album, but now my entire body is shaking. “Cut the Rope” is utterly vulnerable in its lyrics. You feel the pain, while the big production is impressive.

Good grief, we are on the last track, “MDM.” This stands for Modern Day Misery, and it has a solo replacing a potential breakdown. While the guitar tone is still utterly disgusting, I feel that it will ruin people’s faces. The lyrics to this song, I feel like I’ve heard this subject matter a million times before, but the vocal performance is very intense.

I loved this record. It shows Borders’ strengths as a solid band, with as much in common as 90s nu metal with the punishing ferocity of modern day metalcore. Listen to “Bloom Season” because you won’t regret it.

Words by Ermis Madikopoiulos