Have to come clean on this one: just haven’t been feeling the Black Metal love like I used to. Don’t know, something about the genre just seemed steadfast on refusing change, aesthetically or musically. The mandate seemed to be that everyone still must slap on the corpse paint and record something with the production and mix of a VHS bootleg. That’s without mentioning certain artists and labels being complete knobs on Twitter if you dare mildly critique them in a review.
You know who you are, and I’ll leave it at that.
But then I’m assigned something like Bloodcross’ Gravebound (Personal Records) and suddenly it feels like the genre still has vigor and vitality coursing through the veins.
For one thing, this album sounds like it was tracked in a professional studio with an actual human being and not a rabid raccoon behind the mixing board. Bassist T. Lindqvist and drummer J. Saarela truly have a say and can be heard audibly. Seriously, Lindqvist’s low-end even gets a nice little spotlight on the bludgeoning “Beyond Flesh.”
Saarela meanwhile is feral throughout Gravebound, but “Warbeasts” and “Nemesis Reborn” work as prime examples of his percussion workouts.
Inevitably there will be knuckle draggers currently cracking their joints and champing at the bit to type out: “Well, actually…” in regard to Gravebound. See, some will decry this as not true Black Metal as it also incorporates elements of Thrash and Melodic Death Metal and even pays homage to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
That vintage metal adoration can be felt on the shredder’s delight that is “Devil’s Speed” in case you haven’t had your daily recommended dose of Judas Priest for the day. The aforementioned “Beyond Flesh” feels like throwing your favorite Slayer, Amon Amarth, and Venom bits in a blender and mixing them with an equal amount of anabolic steroids.
But hey, if you don’t want to classify Gravebound as a Black Metal banger, have at it. It’s a free country.
Just know that this should be on the shortlist for metal album of the year.
Buy the album here:
https://www.personal-records.com/product/pre-order-bloodcross-gravebound-cd/
9 / 10
HANS LOPEZ