BLOODBOUND — Unholy Cross (review)

Album · 2011 · Power Metal

4/5 · 2011-07-03
adg211288

Unholy Cross is the fourth full-length album from Swedish Power Metal band Bloodbound. Released in 2011 it is the first release from the band to feature the vocals of Patrik "Pata" Johansson, who is also the frontman for fellow Power Metal act Dawn of Silence. He replaces Urban Breed as Bloodbound’s vocalist however, so there’s big boots to fill here. Fortunately he’s a great power metal singer in his own right, and his voice is very fitting to Bloodbound’s music. He doesn’t sound that different to Edguy/Avantasia vocalist Tobias Sammet actually.

Kicking off the album in style is the excellent track, Moria, which has a great intro that builds up into the band’s Euro Power Metal style. Once the band gets going the sound is a staple of what the album is all about. It’s not the most intense power metal sound I ever came across, but neither does it stay too far into what some consider to be ‘flower metal’ territory. The sound of the instruments fits just right with the vocal, with the guitars being much more dominant in the sound than the keyboards, which should sit well with fans of USPM as well as Euro Power Metal. There is also a very strong influence from traditional heavy metal on the album as well, to the point that I can’t really decide if the release is more dominantly heavy or power metal. Either way, it’s a real cracker or a release that I think fans of the more classic metal sounds will lap up.

The writing on the album is pretty consistent, although naturally there are a few songs that stand as a cut above the others, such as Drop the Bomb and Reflections of Evil, but there is also the odd track which takes the smallest of dips in quality, such as The Ones We Left Behind. The writing is somewhat commercially inclined in that there are plenty of chorus where singing along is possible, and I can imagine them working well in the live environment.

Unholy Cross all in all is a fairly standard metal release, but a solid one. There is little variation to the formula of the songs, except every now and then you get one crop up with a faster tempo and makes the track sound heavier, although the production prevents it from becoming majorly heavier, as the band have gone for more of a retro sound to the album. The only drastically different track is Brothers of War, which is a ballad that appears late in the album. There are many great tracks on the album though despite its formulated nature and I’m left feeling very impressed with Bloodbound’s 2011 effort. In the thought of a straight up heavy/power metal album appeals to you, then you couldn’t go far wrong with Bloodbound’s Unholy Cross, as it is one of the best more ‘standard’ albums of its kind I’ve heard. Although the band doesn’t stray from any comfort zone, I kind of like that every now and then, rather than hear heavy/power metal bands trying to merge several genres together (especially if they try to merge with extremer forms of metal) and end up releasing a mess, which, sadly, can happen all too often.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 8.3/10)