Bleeding Through

For their self-titled album, see Bleeding Through (album). For the Once Upon a Time episode, see Bleeding Through (Once Upon a Time).

Bleeding Through
Bleeding Through performing in 2006
Background information
Also known as	Breakneck (1998)
Origin	Woodlake, California, U.S.
Genres	Metalcore melodic death metal hardcore punk
Years active	1999–2014 2017–present
Labels	SharpTone Rise Trustkill Roadrunner Prime Directive Indecision Nuclear Blast
Members	Brandan Schieppati John Arnold Derek Youngsma Marta Peterson Brandon Richter
Past members	Troy Born Scott Danough Brian Leppke Marc Jackson Chad Tafolla Vijay Kumar Molly Street Jona Weinhofen Dave Nassie Ryan Wombacher
Website	bleedingthroughofficial.com

Bleeding Through is an American metalcore band from Woodlake, California, formed in 1999. Influenced largely by hardcore punk and Swedish melodic death metal, the band was established by lead vocalist Brandan Schieppati as a personal project after leaving Throwdown. Schieppati, who also was a member of Eighteen Visions, originally balanced playing with Eighteen Visions and Bleeding Through, recording the independent albums Dust to Ashes (2001) and Portrait of the Goddess (2002) before departing Eighteen Visions to focus on Bleeding Through.

The band signed with Trustkill Records in 2003; they released their breakthrough, This Is Love, This Is Murderous (2003). The band's breakthrough in the music industry involved receiving attention in an unusual way. Rather than experiencing immediate success with This Is Love, This Is Murderous, they received considerable media attention outside of the heavy metal community for their involvement in a van crash accidentally filmed on live television in December 2003. This Love was critically lauded and was followed by The Truth (2006) and Declaration (2008), both through Trustkill.

The release of Declaration was marred by financial hardship and conflicts with Trustkill; following the completion of the touring cycle for the album, the band severed ties with the label and signed to Rise Records in 2009. They released two albums through Rise, Bleeding Through (2010) and The Great Fire (2012), before the group disbanded in 2014. They remained inactive for three years before reuniting in 2017, releasing their latest album Love Will Kill All (2018) through SharpTone Records.

In 2004, Revolver magazine hailed Bleeding Through as one of eight bands ushering in the "Future of Metal" cover story, and Spin called Bleeding Through an "artist to watch" in the magazine's February 2004 issue.

History

Dust to Ashes and Portrait of the Goddess (1999–2002)

Bleeding Through was formed in 1999 in Orange County, California. The band's origins trace back to 1998, when a band named Breakneck was founded by vocalist Brandan Schieppati, guitarists Javier Van Huss and Scott Danough, bass guitarist Chad Tafolla, and drummer Troy Born. Breakneck played only one live performance, opening for Throwdown and Adamantium. Established as a hardcore punk act, the band began to explore a more metallic musical direction after their only show, and felt it necessary at that time to change their band name. The origin of the band's name was explained in an interview as follows: "Well, it is summed up by the explanation that whether black, white, red, brown, yellow, religious preference, straight or gay, we all bleed the same, and we bleed through this life the same. Thus Bleeding Through."

With the stylistic change, the band witnessed lineup changes. Van Huss was the first departure; he was briefly replaced by guitarist Dave Peters, before Tafolla switched from playing bass to guitar. Brandon Conway came in as new bassist until the subsequent recruitment of Marc Jackson. Jackson and Danough had previously played in the band Refuge together in the early 1990s.

In February 2000, Bleeding Through recorded five songs using a 4-track recorder in Born's bedroom, which were released as the band's demo. The demo was followed by their debut full-length album, Dust to Ashes, released through Prime Directive Records on March 20, 2001. Just prior to entering the studio, Vijay Kumar took the bass position and Molly Street joined as a keyboard player. The addition of keyboards was an unconventional move for a metalcore act, as it brought black metal influences into the music.

Four months prior to the album being released, Born quit the band. He was quickly replaced by Derek Youngsma, who had previously played in Cast in Stone, as well as in Daggers with Danough. Less than a month after Dust to Ashes was released, the band signed a two-album and one-EP contract with Indecision Records in April 2001. In August 2001, following the band's first tour, Tafolla left the band and was replaced by Brian Leppke. Severing ties with Eighteen Visions, Schieppati opted to pursue Bleeding Through as a priority upon completion of the Indecision Records 2002 offering Portrait of the Goddess. At this juncture, the group comprised the guitar pairing of Danough and Brian Leppke, bassist Mick Morris (replacing Kumar) and Youngsma.

This Is Love, This Is Murderous (2003–2005)

Bleeding Through performing live at New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, 2005

After these two relatively under-distributed albums, Bleeding Through signed to a larger label, Trustkill Records, in 2003. Their third full-length album, the Ulrich Wild-produced This is Love, This is Murderous, was released that September. They embarked upon tours across the United States, first opening for AFI, followed by the ill-fated Pure Hatred tour with Chimaira, Soilwork and As I Lay Dying. These dates had propelled the band to national attention not because of the initial reception of their music, but because of an accident captured by live television crews which happened to involve the band. Traveling from Utah to a show in Colorado, the group's tour van hit black ice on the highway, spinning out of control and slamming into a truck that was already flipped over. A mobile TV unit reporting for Salt Lake City's KSL-TV was present to report on another crash, but ended up catching the band's collision on film as their equipment trailer rolled and exploded, showering their instruments and gear across the road. The band escaped with only minor injuries; however, with their gear and vehicle destroyed, the group was forced to drop off the tour. The dramatic televised footage was broadcast everywhere from CNN's Headline News, Good Morning America, NBC News and even The Weather Channel.

This Is Love, This Is Murderous received generally favorable reviews from the mainstream media; Allmusic reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia wrote that the band's "blindingly technical execution" made the record consistently entertaining, while CMJ New Music Report lauded the band's ambitious and seamless integration of black metal elements into the album's sound. Punknews.org highlighted the album's frequent "dueling guitars". The videos for "Love Lost in a Hail of Gun Fire" and "On Wings of Lead" became staples on MTV2's Headbangers Ball and on Fuse TV's Uranium as well. It quickly became Bleeding Through's most successful album, with more than 125,000 copies sold by January 2006.

The band began 2004 with the Mutilation Tour, which culminated in a sold-out homecoming performance at The Glasshouse in Orange County. This date was captured on a live DVD, titled This Is Live, This Is Murderous. Later that year, the band toured with Ozzfest, sharing the second stage alongside headline act Slipknot and fellow supports Unearth, Lamb of God, Every Time I Die, Hatebreed, Lacuna Coil and Atreyu. They earned the direct support position on MTV2's third Headbangers Ball: The Tour in November, featuring Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy and Himsa as touring partners. Bleeding Through also donated their rendition of "Rocket Queen" to the Guns N' Roses tribute album Bring You to Your Knees released by Law of Inertia Records in March 2004. A 2005 re-issue of This Is Love, This Is Murderous added three bonus live tracks, "Revenge I Seek", "Rise" and "Our Enemies", two music videos and a ten-minute documentary. Following this, the band embarked upon a European tour in February 2005, supported by Cult of Luna.

The Truth (2005–2007)

In April, the group entered Cherokee Studios with producer and then-Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano. Together, they began work on a new album titled The Truth. As This Is Love, This Is Murderous passed the 100,000 sales figure in the US, further touring found the band headlining the second annual Strhess Fest in alliance with Darkest Hour, Zao, Misery Signals, and Fight Paris commencing early July. Upon completion of these gigs the group joined the Warped Tour for a two-week stretch. November saw shows with Day of Contempt, before the group entered the recording studio to record cover versions of Black Flag's "My War", for use on a tribute album, and Unbroken's "Fall On Proverb".

The Truth was released on January 10, 2006, through Trustkill. The band decided to rebuild their sound from the ground up; Danough told Alternative Press that the band's approach involved "Taking out the Metalcore, and then adding the metal into hardcore, if that makes any sense," while Leppke added, "I don't think this album sounds like anything else out there right now. We're very proud of that fact."

Kerrang! declared that The Truth "is about to tear 2006 a new arsehole" in a very positive review, while Billboard hailed the album as "one of the most important" heavy metal albums of the year. Some critics were not as impressed: Vik Bansal of musicOMH described it as an album that shows "whilst they're not quite there yet, Bleeding Through do have the ability to become bleeding edge", while Rivadavia criticized the lyrical content for "[playing] it safe" with "infuriatingly one-dimensional reliance on victimized, self-pitying lyrics of a middle school maturity level". On the contrary, Stylus praised the improvement of production, recording, and mixing quality by Caggiano, and the melodic approach to songwriting. The album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 48, and No. 1 on the Top Independent Albums.

To promote The Truth, the band opened 2006 with US dates throughout February and March backed by Every Time I Die, Between the Buried and Me and Haste the Day. The band also put in a significant appearance on the second stage at the UK's Download Festival in Castle Donington on June 9. On July 18, Bleeding Through appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Stand-up comedian Mitch Fatel joined the band for a song.

The group once again played on the second stage at the 2006 Ozzfest, now as part of the year's permanent lineup along with Black Label Society, Unearth, Atreyu and Norma Jean. During days Ozzfest was not performing, Bleeding Through played shows supporting Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold and Hatebreed. The band members were on a day off from the festival passing through Medford, Oregon, when they pulled into a Taco Bell parking lot to eat. This resulted in a fan recognizing them and then calling over a bunch of his friends. The band talked with the fans, signed autographs, posed for pictures and also asked the kids if there were any shows happening that night they could participate in. They ended up doing a small club concert with local bands, with roughly 150 people in attendance. The show was a benefit with all proceeds going toward cancer research.

In April 2007, Danough left the band in what was a mutual decision. According to a statement released by the band, Danough and the other members "had grown apart and it was time for both parties to move on". Danough was quickly replaced by Jona Weinhofen of I Killed The Prom Queen – one of several factors that led that band to disband.

Bleeding Through headlined the Darkness Over Europe 2007 Tour with I Killed The Prom Queen, All Shall Perish, and Caliban from February to March. The band then toured as the opening act for the Slayer and Marilyn Manson summer tour. Following that, the group embarked on a six-week stint across the North America opening for HIM, finishing the touring cycle for The Truth on December 1 and 2, 2007.

Declaration (2008–2009)

In March 2008, Bleeding Through announced Declaration as the title of its fifth studio release, a concept album about the rigors of being away from home. The band's frontman and lyricist Brandan Schieppati explained to Revolver in the magazine's May 2008 issue, "There are definitely places when we're traveling where every time we go there, we're like, 'Fuck, why do we have to be here?' Like, we'll be in France and all of a sudden we'll feel totally insignificant. You get the feeling that people's eyes are just burning a hole through you." The group recorded Declaration in Vancouver with producer Devin Townsend.

Ryan Wombacher performing live in Barcelona, 2009

On June 6, 2008, the band released a blog on MTV's Headbangers Ball website. The blog addressed numerous disappointments the band had with Trustkill Records. These disappointments included unpaid royalties, lack of funding for Declaration, and an unapproved re-release of their 2006 album The Truth. Despite Trustkill's website saying that the new album, Declaration would be released August 2008, the band stated that they did not intend to hand over the master recording of the album, until they were paid the minimum fees required to pay back producer Devin Townsend, the band's management and Schieppati's father who loaned the band money for recording. In a follow-up blog on their MySpace page, Bleeding Through stated that "Trustkill Records delivered the funds necessary to complete the album and to compensate everyone who had loaned [us] cash."

Following the recording of Declaration, the group appeared at the 2008's Download Festival, which was held from June 13 to 15 at Donington Park, United Kingdom. During the festival, vocalist Brandan Schieppati spoke to Rock Sound TV about the group's dispute with its record label. During the conversation, Schieppati revealed that Bleeding Through has been contacted by a number of other record companies since the band went public with its Trustkill feud. In July 2008, Bleeding Through signed a European deal with German record label Nuclear Blast for the release of Declaration.

The band performed in the US 'No Fear Music Tour' with Bullet for My Valentine in August, and continued to support them throughout Europe with Lacuna Coil in November and December 2008. They also performed in two countries for the first time in 2008: Mexico and Russia. They performed in Mexico City in August as part of the Warped Tour with Underoath and MxPx and headlined four Russian shows in December.

On September 25, 2008, Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn joined the band on stage at The Warfield in San Francisco, and performed Bleeding Through's song "Revenge I Seek". The next day, Declaration was released in Europe by Nuclear Blast and September 30 in the US by Trustkill. The album sold under 6,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at number 104 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Bleeding Through co-headlined along with Darkest Hour the Thrash and Burn European Tour between April and May 2009. They will also headline "The Declaration Tour" in 2009 along with As Blood Runs Black, Impending Doom, The Acacia Strain. Guitarist Brian Leppke was unable to make it on tour resulting in Demon Hunter's Patrick Judge temporarily filling in for him. In late May 2009, Bleeding Through announced that Jona Weinhofen would be leaving the band and No Use for a Name guitarist Dave Nassie would replace him. Jona cited that while he loved his time in Bleeding Through, he decided that he should leave the band and return home to Australia with his family and friends. Following his departure Jona joined Bring Me the Horizon until January 2013.

Dave Nassie performing live in Bonn in 2009.

The band embarked on a special West Coast tour in August to celebrate their ten-year anniversary, with supporters Carnifex, Miss May I, and Motionless in White. In early June 2009, Bleeding Through signed a deal with the Portland, Oregon-based independent record label Rise Records. Insinuating about the band's previous dispute with its former label Trustkill, Schieppati said, "We're very excited to align with a record label that has so much momentum and is growing when many seem to be faltering, dropping bands and firing employees."

Bleeding Through (2009–2010)

On October 12, 2009, Bleeding Through issued the statement, "Rest assured that everything is fine as far as The Band is concerned! We're looking very forward to the Halloween show followed by the creation of our BRAND NEW ALBUM, which we can tell you will take place in December and January before our European tour with Machine Head, Hatebreed and All Shall Perish! That's right, NEW Bleeding Through album in 2010," confirming the band will release a new album, which was self-titled and released by Rise Records on April 13, 2010, in North America and internationally through Roadrunner Records The album was produced by Zeuss.

The band supported the album with a lengthy tour of Europe, Japan and Australia with Machine Head and Hatebreed in the first part of 2010. This was followed by their own "Spring Breakdown" headlining tour in the US with Born Of Osiris, Sleeping Giant and more. The band returned to Europe for several festivals and a few headlining shows. The group released a video for the song "Anti-Hero". In August 2010 the group headlined the "California United" West Coast tour with Terror and The Ghost Inside. The following month they headlined "The Anti-Hero" tour across the US with support from For Today, After The Burial and more. After that they joined Parkway Drive and Comeback Kid for the European "Never Say Die!" tour. The band closed out 2010 with an appearance at the "Noise for Toyz" benefit show in Fullerton, California and released an iTunes / digital only single through Rise Records which was recorded during the sessions for the self-titled album.

The Great Fire, disbandment announcement and final tours (2010–2014)

The band planned to write and record their seventh studio album once they returned from touring. They planned to release the yet to be titled album anywhere from mid to late 2011, which bassist Ryan Wombacher explained in a November 2010 interview: "Maybe mid-year; safe to say towards the end but not at the end, maybe like eight months or something like that. Best thing about it is we're going to do it whenever we want to do it. There is no deadline right now, we don't have any dates set, we don't have the studio, we're going to do the record ourselves. So we will literally go in and record it and it will be probably be done before we sign a contract."

On November 14, 2011, the band announced that the name of their new record would be called "The Great Fire". On November 30, 2011, the band announced that "The Great Fire" was complete, although no release date has been stated. On December 14, 2011, the band revealed The Great Fire's release date as January 31, 2012.

On January 3, 2013, the band announced their upcoming tour in Europe would be their last, leading to rumors that the band would be breaking up. This was later confirmed by a post on the band's Facebook page that they would be finished at the end of the year. The band also stated that they would like to set up an Australian tour during the summer and singer Brandan Schieppati stated in a reply to an Instagram comment that the band would have a final U.S. tour possibly starting in September. November 2013 the band announced final west coast dates will take place in 2014.

Former guitarist and founding member Scott Danough played with the band on the final tours in Australia, Europe and the U.S. He was added to the band's current lineup as of July 2014 on their Facebook page, which is led to believe he has rejoined Bleeding Through. The first show to kick off 2014 was their final appearance at New England Hardcore & Metal Fest at the Palladium in Worcester Massachusetts on April 17. The line up was made up of Brandan Schieppati, Scott Danough, Ryan Wombacher, Marta Peterson, Derek Youngsma and Dave Nassie's final appearance with the band in 2014. In May, the final nine west coast dates were announced with Winds of Plague and Scars of Tomorrow. A majority of the shows the band played were sold out. It was later announced in June that the first three of the west coast dates would be the "This Is Love This Is Murderous" line up which included Brian Leppke on guitar since he hasn't toured with Bleeding Through since 2010. Sacramento, Portland and Seattle shows featured Declaration era ex member Jona Weinhofen on guitar. In July another show on August 2 was added at Chain Reaction because the August 3 show sold out. The final show was on August 3. Brandan Schieppati's podcast he made it clear the final shows were very emotional and he realized how well they all played together. He said something may come from the band in the future.

Reunion and Love Will Kill All (2018–present)

Brandan Schieppati and Ryan Wombacher live at Full Force festival 2019 in Germany

On January 1, SharpTone Records issued a teaser for music they were releasing in 2018 and some listeners apparently recognized vocalist Brandan Schiepatti's voice on their page. On March 28, 2018, the band announced their new album, "Love Will Kill All" and will release on May 25 through SharpTone Records.

On July 1, 2022, a new EP was released entitled 'Rage' and would be available on all streaming platforms, after a single with the same title was released May 20.

On December 18, Brandan teased the recording of new material following an Instagram post with the caption, "Just riffing away! Working on some dark new songs."

The band have played a range of shows across the United States throughout 2022 and 2023, including the first night of a celebratory lineup marking Indecision Records' 30th anniversary.

On April 21, 2023, Bleeding Through released a new song titled "War Time".

On August 16, 2023, the band released a re-recorded version of "Love Lost in a Hail of Gun Fire" to commemorate the 20th anniversary of This Is Love, This Is Murderous. During the same recording sessions, the band also re-recorded the songs "On Wings of Lead" and "Number Seven with a Bullet". The re-recorded version of "On Wings of Lead" was released later that year on November 24.

In 2024, Bleeding Through toured heavily and released two new songs titled "Our Brand Is Chaos" and "Dead But So Alive", along with accompanying music videos.

Musical style, influences and lyrical themes

Bleeding Through's music has been described as metalcore, expanding their hardcore punk roots into death metal territory. Like many metalcore bands, Bleeding Through is influenced by Swedish melodic death metal. It is the most apparent on Dust to Ashes, while with time the band's music got gradually more and more melodic, with The Truth being the most melodic to date, even containing a power ballad, a novelty for the band. A keyboard player was introduced shortly before the band began performing as an unsigned act. According to former guitarist Scott Danough "it adds a different element" to their music.

Former guitarist Scott Danough has said that he is influenced by metal and hardcore bands, like At the Gates, Slayer, Cradle of Filth, Integrity and Earth Crisis. Vocalist Brandan Schieppati has mentioned American thrash metal bands as an influence on Bleeding Through, such as Testament or Exodus. In an interview, guitarist Brian Leppke added Cro-Mags, Entombed, Crowbar and Pantera to the list of influences. Keyboardist Marta Peterson is the one who brings industrial and goth inspirations to the band's sound.

Although the band was often labeled as simply metalcore, when Brandan Schieppati was asked if he considered Bleeding Through a hardcore band, he said: "I think we're a hardcore band and I'll never say we are a metal band, we're all hardcore kids and we came from the hardcore scene. Ours is just a different version of hardcore, we're trying to do something which adds a different variety to the hardcore scene, which has been sounding the same way for so long."

Lyrical themes focuses such themes as pain, hate, loss, love and personal struggles.

Band members

Current lineup

• Brandan Schieppati – lead vocals (1999–2014, 2017–present)
• Derek Youngsma – drums, percussion (2001–2014, 2017–present)
• John Arnold — guitar (2022–present)
• Marta Peterson – keyboards (2003–2014, 2017–present)
• Brandon Richter – guitar (2023–present)
• Ryan Wombacher – bass (2002–2014, 2017–present)

Former members

• Brian Leppke – guitar (2001–2014, 2017–2022)
• Scott Danough – guitar (1999–2007, touring guest 2013–2014)
• Marc Jackson – bass (1999–2000)
• Troy Born – drums (1999–2001)
• Chad Tafolla – guitar (1999–2001)
• Vijay Kumar – bass (2000–2002)
• Molly Street – keyboards (2000–2003)
• Jona Weinhofen – guitar (2007–2009)
• Dave Nassie – guitar (2009–2014)

Live musicians

• Javier Van Huss – guitar (1999)
• Mick Morris – bass (2001–2002)
• Rocky Gray – drums (2008)
• Dave Peters – guitar (2008)
• Patrick Judge – guitar (2009, 2013, 2019)
• Manny Contreras – guitar (2010, 2013–2014, 2018-2019)
• Mick Kenney – guitar (2010)
• Mark Garza – drums (2010)
• Justin Bock – bass (2018), guitar (2019)
• Robert Bloomfield – bass (2019)
• Kory Anderson – guitar (2022), bass (2022)
• Chris Dale – bass (2022)
• Marc Battung – bass (2024-present)
• Peter Layman - guitar (2024)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album	Label	Chart peaks
			US	US Indie	AUS	UK
2001	Dust to Ashes	Prime Directive Records	—	—	—	—
2002	Portrait of the Goddess	Indecision Records	—	—	—	—
2003	This Is Love, This Is Murderous	Trustkill Records	—	43	—	—
2006	The Truth		48	1	—	153
2008	Declaration		104	16	74	—
2010	Bleeding Through	Rise Records	143	21	—	—
2012	The Great Fire		193	23	—	—
2018	Love Will Kill All	SharpTone Records	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

DVDs

• This Is Live, This Is Murderous (June 15, 2004, Kung Fu Records)
• Wolves Among Sheep (November 15, 2005, Trustkill Records)

Appearance on compilations

• MTV2 Headbangers Ball: The Revenge – "Kill to Believe"
• The Best of Taste of Chaos – "On Wings of Lead"
• The Best of Taste of Chaos Two. – "Love in Slow Motion"
• Bring You to Your Knees: A Tribute to Guns N' Roses – "Rocket Queen"
• Threat: Music That Inspired the Movie – "Number Seven with a Bullet"
• Threat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Soundtrack) – "Number Seven with a Bullet"
• AMP Magazine Presents: Volume 1: Hardcore
• Blood, Sweat & Ten Years – "On Wings of Lead" and "Love Lost in a Hale of Gunfire"
• MTV2 Headbangers Ball, Vol. 2 – "Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire" (censored)
• Fighting Music 2
• Our Impact Will Be Felt: A Tribute to Sick of It All – "We Want the Truth"
• Trustkill Takeover, Vol. II – "One Last Second"
• 2005 Warped Tour Compilation – "Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire"
• Punk Goes '90s – "Stars" – Hum cover
• Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag – "My War"
• Metal Hammer 204 – "Anti-Hero"

Music videos

Year	Song	Director
2002	"Our Enemies"
2003	"Love Lost in a Hale of Gunfire"	Christopher Sims
	"On Wings of Lead"	Chad Calek and Corey Moss
2006	"Kill to Believe"	Fort Awesome
	"Love in Slow Motion"
2007	"Line in the Sand"	Dan Dobi
2008	"Death Anxiety"	Dave Brodsky
2009	"Germany"	Ignore Entertainment
2010	"Anti-Hero"	Spence Nicholson
2018	"Set Me Free"	Orie and Enlighten Creative
	"Fade into the Ash"
	"No Friends"
2024	"Our Brand Is Chaos"
	"Dead But So Alive"	Vincente Cordero

External links

• Official website
• Bleeding Through: A Different Package: Shout! Music Webzine on April 1, 2007
• What Bleeding Through Can Do For You: Follow-up Interview with Derek Youngsma