| Bitemarks and Bloodstains | |
| Cover: | Finch - Bitemarks and Bloodstains.png |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Finch |
| Album: | Say Hello to Sunshine |
| Genre: | Post-hardcore |
| Label: | Geffen |
| Producer: | Jason Cupp |
| Prev Title: | New Beginnings |
| Prev Year: | 2003 |
| Next Title: | Bury White |
| Next Year: | 2010 |
"Bitemarks and Bloodstains" is a song by the American rock band Finch. It is the twelfth track on the band's second studio album Say Hello to Sunshine, and was released as a single on May 17, 2005, through Geffen Records. "Bitemarks and Bloodstains" was released to radio on June 21, 2005.[1] It was subsequently released through other labels internationally in a variety of formats with various bonus tracks. Vocalist Nate Barcalow said "Bitemarks and Bloodstains" was the first song Finch wrote for Say Hello to Sunshine and it "makes the transition between the old and the new sound."
Finch released a music video directed by Michael Palmieri for "Bitemarks and Bloodstains" in July 2005. The video opens with an Emergency Alert System message before showing various people in a single neighborhood frantically trying to pack up their cars and evade a cataclysmic event, which is portrayed as an ominous vortex in the sky. A traffic jam eventually stops the fleeing people, forcing them to retreat on foot. At the end of the video, the vortex explodes, causing everyone in the neighborhood to vanish without a trace. The plot of the video is inter-spliced with footage of Finch performing in a living room.
"Bitemarks and Bloodstains" was met with an average to negative reception by music critics. Writing for AbsolutePunk, Scott Weber said the song, "doesn't even sound like new Finch. It's completely boring and predictable. The build-up, while intended to be dramatic, is murdered by the chorus being repeated over and over again." Writing for Sputnikmusic, Ryan Flatley said, "Songs such as 'A Piece of Mind,' 'Brother Bleed Brother,' and 'Bitemarks and Bloodstains' are all good songs, just nothing blares out in me that makes it individually great."