Artist: Bloodstone
Title: Ecstasy Of Battle
Type: EP
Label: Digital
Now even by my standards, alighting on this debut EP was random and none of the members name rang bells (apologies). It just popped up on my Bandcamp feed, I liked the cover, felt like some proper heavy metal and gave it a listen. Power of a good logo and cover eh?
‘The Pit Of wings’ kicks off with a snarl and a hard drum kick. The sound is bright and heavy and as the vocals come in this is clearly in that beautiful zone of pure heavy metal with just a glance at the epic. The vocals are really strong, varied and thankfully not an air raid siren either despite having a great range and flexibility. The riff has a really chunky edge and urgency to it, the refrain tosses in a great hook riding on the vocal tones and the guitar break just puts a big grin on my face.
Sound wise I find it a little difficulty if you want pigeonholes. For me it is that area that some of the more rousing parts of Ironsword inhabit (particularly Overlords Of Chaos); gritty, heavy and bound to slap a grin on any metalhead’s face. Think Evil Star period Wolf, and that old Iron Maiden swing and sway circa Transylvania with a huge energy and raw heft to everything. The drumming and bass here is just great and given plenty of time to shine too (I do love a band who aren’t afraid to let the bass player step up). The breaks are glorious, the music powerful and despite dancing that razor’s edge it never for a moment feel slike it will topple into power metal land. An instrumental on a debut EP? Inconceivable!
The EP closes with ‘Shadow Of The Serpent’. This another nicely gnarly strike; surging riff, the raw feeling of waiting for an axe to fall. A great chorus, reaching up for that final sword blow. Look at that cover and this is the sound. There’s an undeniable NWOBHM touch to it in the honesty of the melody and feet planted hard on the ground even as voice and lyrics cry out the legend of the warrior. The way they can put their foot hard on the pedal at a moment’s notice is just grand, the guitar breaks just taking flight from the riff.
This is a superb debut, and if you want your fix of fantasy themed heavy metal then you need to get Bloodstone on your list now!
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 