The year is 2003. You sneak downstairs after your parents fall asleep and turn the TV to MTV to catch Headbangers Ball. An angular and melodic segment transitions to the heaviest breakdown you’ve ever heard. Despite the lack of panic chords, panic ensues as you realize you didn’t catch the band’s name, only for the bottom-left credits to alleviate that concern. “Foreign Hands – Bleed the Dream,” you jot down on a scrap piece of paper you’ll soon take to the mall and exchange, in addition to some cold hard cash, for the CD.
Only it’s nearly two decades later. Illusion. Shattered. However, the video for the Foreign Hands’ “Separation Souvenir” instantly transports you back to simpler times. The song finds them following in the footsteps of legends Poison the Well, with this release marking their Tear from the Red. That is, it adds more melodic elements while maintaining a metalcore stomp; the opposite of The Opposite of December—more a logical progression. Elements of Misery Signals (and precursor 7 Angels, 7 Plagues), Hopesfall, The Bled, Taken, etc. creep in. Indeed, if Bleed the Dream were to drop back in the day, Foreign Hands would almost certainly call Ferret or Trustkill home. In fact, between these Delawareans and peers such as SeeYouSpaceCowboy and Wristmeetrazor (in whom Foreign Hands vocalist Tyler Norris plays guitar), those labels could be thriving in 2022.
Guitarist Jack Beatson elaborates on selecting “Separation Souvenir” as the EP’s first single.
“‘Separation Souvenir’ was a song that we knew had to be the single when we finished writing the EP. It’s got a little bit of everything in it, and we all felt like it showcased our sound well. From the start, we had a pretty clear idea of how we wanted the video to look; we wanted it to be reminiscent of the music videos we all grew up watching. Our super talented friend Ashley Simpson really helped us bring that vision to life, and it feels like a perfect visual accompaniment to both the song itself and the EP as a whole.”
Check it out in the player below.
Pre-order Foreign Hands merch and the Bleed the Dream EP on CD via DAZE. It’s out on February 18.
