Over the past 12 years or so, Chicago thrash band Bloodletter have evolved their sound to incorporate Swedish death metal, black metal, and hardcore—and the four-piece elevate their aggression with triumphal melodicism worthy of Iron Maiden. While making their brand-new fourth full-length, Leave the Light Behind (recorded by front man Pete Carparelli), Bloodletter challenged themselves to level up their songwriting and stylistic cross-pollination. The album’s 35 minutes fly by with such unstoppable momentum that on my first listen I didn’t realize it was over till the first song started playing again. Megalithic opener “A World Unmade” bursts from Herculean thrash into sleek, harrowing melodeath and evokes the image of a doomsday clock ticking down. Bloodletter maintain its unshakable en

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