Review / 200 Words Or Less
Sounds Like Violence
With Blood on My Hands

Deep Elm (2007) Tohm

Sounds Like Violence – With Blood on My Hands cover artwork
Sounds Like Violence – With Blood on My Hands — Deep Elm, 2007

Alternative Press called Sweden's Sounds Like Violence "post-grunge." I don't know what the fuck post-grunge is supposed to sound like, but apparently it's catchy pop-punk "recommended for fans of: My Chemical Romance, Underoath, Refused, [and] The Hives." The music isn't as bubbly as your average pop-punk band, which is definitely a bonus, but the lyrics still drip with angst and heartbreak. The My Chemical Romance influence can be seen in the lyrics and vocal delivery: "I've been hit by a bus / I've had my head chopped off / I've died a million times / At least in my mind" and "I want my real heart back / You can send it in a box." Also, song titles like "Heartless Wreck," "Were You Ever In Love With Me?" and "Cold Cold Blood" denote more annoying/lovesick anthems. The standout track on With Blood On My Hands is "Until Death Do Us Part"; it's also where the album gets its name (see lyrics). I can see Sounds Like Violence becoming big with the "teenie bopper" crowd, but that's about it.

4.0 / 10Tohm • December 31, 2007

Sounds Like Violence – With Blood on My Hands cover artwork
Sounds Like Violence – With Blood on My Hands — Deep Elm, 2007

Recently-posted album reviews

Physicalist

Self Titled
Dirt Cult (2026)

F.Y.P is one of the rare bands that I'd say nobody sounds like -- but in the past two months I've caught myself making that comparison twice. First while listening to the new Dumpies LP (spoiler alert: they cover F.Y.P on that same record) and now as I listen to the Physicalist debut EP. The interesting thing here isn't the … Read more

Dylan Thomas

Todo se desvanece
Burnt Toast Vinyl (2026)

When bands spend months slowly piecing together an album with cheap gear, limited time, and apparently an alarming amount of terrible beer, it’s kind of romantic. Not romantic in the polished indie film sense. More romantic in the sense that you can actually hear people chasing a feeling before life pulls them in different directions. That tension sits at the … Read more

Adam Steiner

Darker with the Dawn: Nick Cave's Songs of Love and Death
Rowman & Littlefield (2023)

Adam Steiner doesn’t just break the earth with a spade with this book; he actually digs deep into the fertile soil to enter the cobwebbed crypt. He approaches the catalogue like a forensic scientist examining the maggots on a corpse—meticulously analyzing the rot and the details of decay to chart exactly how long the body has been decomposing. He gets … Read more