Blood Youth – “Starve” [Album Review]

Having lived here for just over three years, I can safely vouch for the fact that Harrogate, a spa-town sixteen miles outside of Leeds, is well known for Betty’s Tea Rooms, and the place where Agatha Christie disappeared to. One thing you wouldn’t associate with the place, that it would have a bubbling metallic hardcore scene. However, that could all be about to change with the release of Starve, the new album from local boys Blood Youth.

Having expanded their experiences away from the hardcore scene over the past few years, it will come as no surprise to fans of the group that their sound has also developed away from the raw hardcore roots of their Beyond Repair disc. Even the press release accompanying Starve opened with the line FFO: Slipknot, Korn and The Ghost Inside which should give you some insight into the direction the guys have taken. What nothing can prepare you for as you set yourself up to listen to Starve is the sheer intensity and depth of this record.

By exploring and expanding their sound, Blood Youth have created a recording that is comprised of so many layers, you’ll discover something new to it every time you press play. One thing it is, utterly fucking dark. Songs like “Spineless” and “Cut Me Open” are as visceral and furious as their titles would have you believe while, from the moment you first hear frontman Kaya Tarsus roar, he’ll leave you in no doubt that this is the performance of a man who is throwing every ounce of his existence into this record.

You’ll be left in no doubt as to the intensity of Starve when you check out “Spineless”.

Trauma, heartbreak, death, these are not happy subjects and this is not a happy record. The real beauty of the album through is that, while it is unapologetically ferocious, Starve has so much depth and emotion coursing through its veins that you can almost feel the relief the band are getting from it. By the time they have squeezed out every last drop of emotion in the appropriately titled album closer “Exhale,” you almost feel like you’ve experienced every moment of the breathtaking but utterly gut-wrenching journey that has inspired this incredible recording.

Starve Track Listing:

01. {51/50}
02. Starve
03. Cut Me Open
04. Spineless
05. Nerve
06. The Answer
07. Waste Away
08. {stone.tape.theory}
09. Visitant
10. Keep You Alive
11. Nothing Left
12. Hate
13. Exhale

Run Time: 49:08
Release Date: February 22, 2019
Record Label: Rude Records