Front-man and vocalist, Chaz Bond, formed BioGenesis in 1996. The name was inspired by a scientific theory that living things can only be produced by other living things. Chaz Bond was joined by James Riggs on guitars, Randy Walton on bass and Nevin Cline on drums. They were picked up by Steve Rowe’s label, Rowe Productions, and released ‘The Mark Bleeds Through’ (2001) followed by a tour with Mortification. They had planned to release a second album, but it never came to fruition. BioGenesis disbanded in 2005 after Chaz joined Jacobs Dream.
However, five years after their apparent demise, BioGenesis reformed with their original line-up. They also added an extra guitarist in Paul Witte. After some reunion shows in their local area of Dayton, Ohio, the band began working on their new album ‘The Rise, The Fall, The Rebirth’. They also brought in a guest guitarist in the form of John Berry (Jacobs Dream) with his signature solos. Their style crosses genre boundaries, so that they move between power metal, thrash and melodic death metal, with progressive elements within the song structures. They are influenced by Iced Earth, Cannibal Corpse, Fear Factory, Deliverance, Disturbed and Nevermore.
‘Paradox’ opens with chugging guitar which (whilst not trying to sound contradictory) is like a slow thrash and also contains thrash screams and clear vocals. ‘Hatred Seed’ takes it back to more normal thrash territory, but contains hauntingly melodic intersections. “Will we ever change / Can we face our own reflection / In this world of imperfection / Why do we hate”. If you thought that this was dark, they then tackle the subject of a person trying to overcome memories of abuse in ‘Never’.
After the brutal ‘Bleed Me’ (“You hold me down and bleed me dry / You bleed me to death”) there is some respite in the progressive ballad ‘Angel’. And then there is another thrashing in ‘The Darkness Fades’, which states that hard times come and go and that you need to hold your head up high during difficult times.
‘The Mark 12’ sounds like an updated version of ‘The Mark Bleeds Through’. There are two bonus tracks in ‘Fallback’ (featuring Jimmy P. Brown of Deliverance on bass) and ‘Catalyst For Malice’, along with a hidden acoustic track ‘Beans And Cornbread’.
Rating: 7/10
Reviewed by Peter John Willoughby
Tracks
Paradox
Hatred Seed
Never
Point Of Origin
Bleed Me
Angel
The Darkness Fades
Biogenesis
The Mark 12
Bonus Tracks
Fallback (2002)
Catalyst For Malice (2004)
Beans And Cornbread (acoustic)
Band members:
Chaz Bond – Vocals
Darin Moore – Guitars
Randy Walton – Bass
Nevin Cline – Drums
Discography:
The Mark Bleeds Through [2001]
The Rise, The Fall, The Rebirth [2012]
Record Label: Soundmass, 2012
Weblinks: Facebook / Myspace / Reverbnation
Buy the album here:
Holland & Worldwide: First Paradox Metalrecords
Video: BioGenesis – ‘Paradox’ Lyric Video