Blunt Blade’s second album, “Forgiveness,” is one album that’d make you forget neat genre boxes – this album spits on them.
Who is Blunt Blade? Blunt Blade is the band. The guy’s been musically obsessed since he was a kid – piano by 7, guitar by 15, bass and drums by 16 – and every single layer is by himself. His roots are in the gloriously named high school cover band Chainsaw Vendetta (which, get this, was originally called Chainsaw Vasectomy!). His sound is this glorious mess of influences – Zappa, Miles Davis, Iron Maiden, Soundgarden, Tool, Talking Heads, Metric, Phish – all forged into something that’s his.
“Forgiveness” takes you straight into those shadowy corners of the mind where our deepest fears and tiniest sparks of hope live side by side. The seven tracks (don’t let the number fool you – this album roams) are journeys through inner worlds marked by failure, ego, fear, hatred, and that desperate hunt for redemption that always seems just out of reach. The album kicks off with “Sprawling,” and its tension is palpable from the first note. Right away, you know what you’re in for: “The feeling of pride / Pretend it quells / Masking painful thoughts / Practice hides the smell.” Talk about laying it all bare – here’s someone admitting they’re deflecting, watching their carefully built walls come tumbling down. The sound starts with this uneasy restraint before exploding into crushing, dissonant chaos – “Sprawling tasteless / Pleasant distress.” Buckle up, because the emotional ride’s just getting started.
Tracks like “Justified” morph into a scathing critique of what happens when ambition goes rotten. The lyrics paint a brutal picture of people justifying terrible things to get what they want: “You justify means to gain your desires / Those who are there must be with the briars / Scorned are the ones who would question method.” The music puffs up with cockiness (“Your progress soars / Your head it swells”), then slams you with truth: “Success is ostensibly the outcome / Actually, it’s a shallow hum.” It’s hard-hitting rock that calls out empty victories for what they really are.
“Helpless” is a cry against internal demons. The track keeps shifting and evolving, throwing raw feelings right in your face (“When fear awakes hate / Mind your defenses, hold”) while reason tries to break through like a lighthouse in the storm (“Logic is a strong defense / Reason a stronghold / With these you can fight / Hold to your code”). You can hear Blade living this struggle, not just singing it. And when he reaches that almost spiritual breakthrough moment? Wow. “Hatred is gone / Love is an outpour in every transaction / At peace is your soul / Jubilant actions.”
The haunting centrepiece is the two-part saga “The Journey to Hope/Esperanza.” This is Blade at his most ambitious, folks. He’s moved past just looking inward and created this gothic mini-epic about a town called Hope (how’s that for irony?) and a girl named Esperanza who gets tangled up with a mysterious talisman and some seriously creepy hooded stranger. The lyrics paint this incredibly vivid, spine-tingling scene: “The town secluded / The people lived in fear / They lacked protection / Their every move forbidden.” The music perfectly captures the mood – you’ve got these eerie, atmospheric verses that make you feel the town’s terror, then it shifts into something darker, almost ritualistic (“‘Esperanza / Please have mercy / We mean no harm’ / ‘Do as I say / I’ve got you where I want / Hold to my charms'”). The whole story unfolds with this crushing sense of doom, building to that ending where the stranger claims Esperanza: “‘Esperanza’s my puppet / She belongs with me’ / And with that she was taken / Talisman held tight / Wailing, squirming, and captured / Vanishing in haze of black night.”
Then comes the colossus: the title track, “Forgiveness.” This ten-minute epic is basically Blade pouring his heart out to progressive rock. Blade himself called putting this beast together “a bit wild” – and honestly, you can hear why. The emotional arc is seismic. Just like forgiveness itself, right? It starts with this wounded vulnerability (“The willingness / to heal / Is a wounded heart / That’s been concealed”), then wanders through confusion and self-doubt (“Where I’m at / Time will tell / Is it here / Will I be coming back / Who am I / What is this”). Things get dark when it moves into betrayal and hostility, and hits rock bottom with crushing loss (“I’ve lost forgiveness / What have I become / All that I have earned / That was once so wholesome”). But here’s the thing – it doesn’t stay there. By the end, there’s this fragile but real hope: “All is not lost / I am here, won’t succumb.”
“Forgiveness” is what it sounds like when an artist just goes for it – no rules, no boundaries, just pure creative fire. ” Bold, ambitious, and honestly? This is the album that proves Blunt Blade isn’t just another rock artist. He’s something special, something we need right now in rock music. So don’t just throw it on in the background. Really dive in. Experience it.