Bloodbound – Tales From The North
Bloodbound – Tales From The North
AFM Records
Release Date: 07/07/23
Running Time: 46:41
Review by Simon Black
9/10
Now those of you familiar with my ramblings will know that I quite like a bit of Power Metal, but that I’m quite disparaging of what’s known as the ‘cookie cutter’ variety of the sub-genre. The trouble is there’s more of that than anything else, mostly being all Swedish, being conceptual and based on a sword and sorcery / historical epic / fantasy novel, all done in major keys with stirring anthemics and sounding pretty much exactly the same as the one before it. With nothing much to differentiate between hundreds of acts with thousands of albums, it gets tired and fast. If the concept story underneath it is too overwrought to boot, then it’s going to get a serious roasting from me because quite frankly life’s too short to spend numerous end-to-end listens trying to unpick the underlying tale.
Now on the surface, Bloodbound fall into the category most brazenly, carrying as they do all the clichés and tropes of the genre, yet they consistently both avoid the dreaded Black roast, and generally get good marks for the plain and simple reason that they do it so well. I found myself exactly two years ago when their “Creatures From The Dark Realm” hit my platter, and as with that opus “Tales From The North” grabs you from the get go by being remarkably accessible.
The concept this time it’s all Norse middle-ages shenanigans, capitalising on the current fervour for all things viking that has infected the streaming platforms since some TV executive discovered Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom novels. Even my spell checker gets that word wrong by the way and tries to capitalise it. “Viking” is actually a verb in its original historical context (as you will know if you’ve read your Cornwall), as in “to go viking”, which was originally the act of jumping into the nearest long boat and raping, burning, pillaging and driking wherever you landed. You can blame modern media for turning the verb into a noun and associating it with the various peoples engaged in it. Blame the TV execs I say, and making them read Beowulf in the original Olde English would be my punishment. So, a conceptual backdrop, but the songs themselves don’t need analysis of any kind of plot, as they stand up on their own two feet individually, which is why Bloodbound score a major tick from me, as it’s accessibility 101.
Then there’s the songs themselves… Bloodbound really have a knack for taking the best the genre has to offer and crafting a damned catchy banger of a tune, pretty much each and every time. I cannot fault anything on here – each track stands so well on its own and has the same quality and consistency, although ‘Drink With The Gods’ is top drawer, and going to win any festival crowd over immediately, whether security have confiscated their drinking horns or not. Being a six-piece, the richness of their sound works so well, creating a lovely even mix and such a cohesive wholeness that I can’t help but want to spin this again as soon as finished. Musically the playing hides a strong technical underpinning, with a couple of quite clever and technical musical flourishes peppering almost every song. On the surface you might miss them, but any listener with an ear for the Progressive is going to nod in appreciation.
You can carry the dreaded characteristics of Power Metal, but if the delivery is well-executed and avoids cliché it really doesn’t matter, so for the second time in two years Bloodbound have landed an album that should have me firing up the ovens, but actually has me cranking out loud and proud. Yes, I listen to Bloodbound, and so do my neighbours…They really have no choice…
‘Drink With The Gods’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Tales From The North
02. Drink With The Gods
03. Odin’s Prayer
04. The Raven’s Cry
05. Mimir’s Crystal Eye
06. Between The Enemy Lines
07. Land Of Heroes
08. Sail Among The Dead
09. Stake My Claims
10. Sword And Axe
11. 1066
LINE-UP:
Patrik Selleby – Lead Vocals
Tomas Olsson – Lead And Rhythm Guitars
Fredrik Bergh – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Henrik Olsson – Rhythm Guitars
Anders Broman – Bass
Daniel Sjögren – Drums
LINKS:
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