by joseangeles@muchomail.com
Does it get any better than this? When I first got this CD, I felt like I had something truly special in my hand, as if a new chapter of metal history was being made right before my very eyes. This album employs grindgore, doom metal, thrash, death metal, and psychedelic flavored heavy metal to perfection. Everything that makes those sub-genres so goddamn amazing are present here in such a top-notch fashion with the added bonus of comical horror movie geek lyrics (finally a band that shares my frustration over edited DVDs and shitty nu-horror like Scream!).Choruses play out like catchy punk anthems but drip in bloody homicidal vokills ranging from a deep creepy zombie growl (kinda like Stevo from Impetigo) to ear-shattering shrieks. Death metal parts are reminiscent of the devastating and evil as fuck old school Swedish sound (Entombed and Grave, the way dm should be). The doomy moments have a rich dark atmosphere that menaces slowly and has that classic doom metal feel (just like Black Sabbath) but also has a slow-paced death feel that reminds me of Abscess and Autopsy. King Diamond-like epic heavy metal solos creep in with a trippy Psycho-delic touch (that rad waa-waa effect is there!). And then there's plenty of furious thrashing and grinding that takes us back to the 80’s when Terrorizer and Repulsion were what grind was all about (not this generic nu-metal in disguise crap with pitchshitted pussy growls). If you want to compare this to the previous Blood Freak album (Sleaze Merchants) I’d say this is more death metallish and doomier.
This is a real diverse album that manages to unleash all those different styles so smoothly and genuinely without being a retro-trend band or some artsy-fartsy experimental prog group that would only mix those genres as some lame gimmick. Oh yeah and lets not forget the album art. The booklet is worth the price alone. Repka (the man behind the best Megadeth covers) does an Ed Roth like rendition of the lovable Turkey Monster in his butchermobile. And then there’s gore artist Putrid’s work, his “goretits” drawing rules so much, real old school horror comic look but even gorier than anything back in the 50’s.
Blood Freak is like music made solely to quench my thirst for forgotten classic horror and metal. I give this my highest recommendation possible for it is one of the most ambitious releases I’ve seen in years, not a single song (or riff for that matter) is a waste, and it epitomizes everything I hold dear to my heart; killer horror and metal dating before this shitty new millennium where so much classic stuff is unappreciated. “Live Fast, Die Young, And Leave a Flesh Eating Corpse” now has a nice home along with my Impetigo Ultimo Cannibale CD and Somethingweird Freak Show Box Set.
10 bazillion out of 10 bazillion!