Exclusive: Internal Bleeding Break Down Their Latest Album ‘Settle All Scores’ Track by Track
Earlier today, slam death metal progenitors Internal Bleeding released their first new album in seven years with the incredibly brutal Settle All Scores. Right from the get-go, it’s the sort of ignorant, violent fury you’d expect from a slam death metal act.
But rather than have me go on and on about the album itself, why not have the band themselves itself tell you all about it instead?! That’s exactly what we at MetalSucks managed to do. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the dudes in Internal Bleeding for taking the time to do this. It’s always so fuckin’ cool.
So without any further ado, here’s Internal Bleeding laying out each track on their newly available album Settle All Scores. You can get your copy wherever you grab your music these days.
Intangible Pact
Thematically, this song is about strength and perseverance in the face of all odds. The people who are truly your best friends will go to the mat for you, come thick and thin. When you’ve managed to survive for 30-plus years in a band, it takes a specific type of bond to make that possible.
Settle All Scores
A pure revenge track, explicitly written about 10-20 specific people we have come across over the years who have treated us poorly, stolen from us, or disrespected us. That said, it’s a cathartic song, and we hope the listener can derive some visceral satisfaction by imagining themselves settling their own personal scores. (Please note I used the word ‘imagine’, don’t go out and do anything that will ruin your life!)
Prophet of Deceit
The song was initially titled “Voice of Fire,” but once we wrote the lyrics to the music, the meaning, the phrasing, and the vocal patterns felt very flat. We went back to the drawing board and rewrote the lyrics, adding Sherwood Webber from Skinless to the song to give it an extra layer of vocal interest.
Enforced Compliance
This was the first song written for the album. Lyrically, it is about using force to compel a desired behavior. The end of the song is my personal tribute to my favorite band, Black Sabbath.
Crown of Insignificance
This is a song about people with big mouths. Little, pathetic losers who hide behind either their so-called reputation, their keyboards, or any other type
Empire of Terror
This song features guest vocals by Joe Marchese, who did vocals on our previous album, Corrupting Influence. Musically, it’s a little less “slam” than what we usually do and is more in the traditional death metal mold.
Glorify the Oppressor
This song was written during the COVID lockdown. Additionally, the entire song, except for one riff, was thrown out, and the song was rewritten entirely. The lockdowns had left us in a mentally unstable state, so the song felt forced and fell short of our standards. The rewrite brought new life into the song and made it one of my personal favorites. Additionally, the song features Jay Lowe, who was our vocalist on the Onward to Mecca album.
Deliberate Desecration
We wanted an ‘epic’ to close out the album, so I wrote the acoustic intro and came up with the idea of a long fadeout with IB alum Frank Rini. We also added Mike Petroski from Never Ending Game into the vocal mix.
