Bitter Heart - Rotten
BITTER HEART
ROTTEN
Independent Release
Release: November 2, 2018
Powertrio Bitter Heart blends the anguish of Grunge, the raw energy of Metal and the heavy riffage of Stoner Rock. Formed in Tunisia in 2016 and inspired by bands such as Type O Negative and Alice in Chains, the trio quickly started writing their own material and have independently released their first album titled ‘Rotten’ on the 2nd of November 2018.
We start the album with ‘’Heartless’’, the track is nice, I might have expected a bit more heaviness. Fortunately, we get that from track two, ‘’Kill Your Dreams’’. I really like the rawness in Melik’s voice, he doesn’t try to make it sound too perfect, if you know what I mean. That is the way this music should sound like. Pure.
‘’She Kills Me More’’ has some really nice riffs, I like the chord progression as well. Usually that doesn’t really grab my attention but this time it did. The guitar effects sound cool as well, very catchy track! ‘’Rotten’’, the title track, is something else though. I like the vibe, but it is not something I would listen to myself, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I can totally see why it is the title track though!
For ‘’Grave Digger’’ I expected something harder. By now I realize my expectations might have been entirely wrong, but I really do like what I am hearing. ‘’Lose Myself’’ is great in building up tension, it doesn’t really lead to somewhere but I am not mad at it. The acoustic/western guitar seems somewhat out of place, I’d rather would have heard that small solo on an electric guitar. I’d say ‘’Lose Myself’’ is the track I dislike the most, but still if I’d listen to this album while say cleaning, I would not skip it.
‘’Psychopathic Evil Woman from Hell’’ has a title that makes you wonder about the story behind it. Same goes for ‘’Dense Motherfucker Little Piece of Shit’’. Like, that HAS to be about someone. ‘’Psychopathic Evil Woman from Hell’’ is really catchy and danceable! In ‘’Dense Motherfucker Little Piece of Shit’’ you can hear the emotion behind it. It is one of my favourite tracks of this album! I also like the synth(and guitar?) effects in the verses.
I am wondering from whom the backing vocals are in ‘’Cosmic Orgasmic’’, on the listening it says they are from bass player Dawser, but they sound very much like a woman. So I don’t think it is him… I really like this track though, it is definitely stoner rock, but I can really appreciate that kind of music as well. The last track of ‘“Rotten’’ is ‘’Beyond Omega’’, and I expect this to be an instrumental outro, with its 1:54 minutes the shortest track of the album. It is really atmospheric and I kinda would have liked to hear such a track somewhere between track four/five/six, just to set the mood for the tracks to come. It reminds me of Pink Floyd, and I love that.
Bitter Hearts debut album ‘’Rotten’’ is very easy to listen to, they have made their new music very approachable for both audiences, the new one and the already existing one from their other bands (Persona for example). This album really has this 90’s grunge/rock sound actually. If I had to compare them to another band, I’d say Bitter Heart is a metal-Nirvana mix with some Misfits (vocal wise that is)?
Honestly, I always find it a bit difficult to rate a friend's music, but before I do, I want to say that I am really proud of Melik making his musical dreams come true!
Rating: 7/10
Read the interview with Melik here!
For More Info Visit:
By Tamar
12/1/2019
Line-Up
Melik Melek Khelifa (vocals, guitars – also lead guitar player for Tunisian Metal band Persona)
Dawser Kheddher (back vocals, bass)
Selim Jabbes (drums)