BLOODBOUND — Unholy Cross (review)

BLOODBOUND — Unholy Cross album cover Album · 2011 · Power Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Time Signature
Drop the bomb...

Genre: retro powe rmetal

BloodBound are not afraid of sounding old-fashioned and dated, and that's what I like about them.

Their style combined early German power metal with more traditional heavy metal, and I think that this choice of retro style is a conscious one driven by a fascination with the metal of the previous generation.

They draw extensively on classic metal style riffage and the slightly neoclassical elements that Helloween flirted with back in the day and helped cement into power metal. The vocals are grandiose but also melodic and catchy - especially in the choruses. Patric Johanneson's voice is not as delicate as with many other power metal vocalists, which gives his voice a dimension of power and rock 'n' roll.

Cheesiness is a stable feature of power metal, and Bloodbound's music is also s bit cheesy, but not so much that it disturbs my overall experience of the music.

Not all bands can get away with a retro style, and just end up sounding like a hollow copy of the legends of the 80s. BloodBound are somewhat successful, as tracks like "Drop the Bomb", "Reflections of Evil", "Message from Hell", "In the Dead of Night" and the title track are pretty awesome, but other tracks like "Moria" and "Brothers of War" sound pretty uninspired.

All in all, a quite good retro album from very talented musicians, and I am sure that it will appeal to many fans of power metal and traditional metal.
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