Reviewed by Elliot Rose

'This Is It' has had almost as many incarnations as Bride's line-up; in fact the Collector's Edition is the third version in seven years of the album, which originally was an independent project. It marked their return to heavy music, however it significantly lacks the melodic aspects of their earlier work - the only tunes you'll find are in the bookend tracks "Blow It All Away" and "White Elephant", which are by far the most enjoyable songs on the disc. From the second you press play, the music gallops on by in a flurry of distortion and cymbal (aside from the bizarrely misplaced live-in-the-studio acoustic "Barren River Blues"), including the four bonus tracks from the 'Raw' demo. On the plus side, the sleeve has the lyrics printed, so even without being able to understand the vocals you can at least appreciate the surprisingly deep and poetic words.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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