Album Review: Bloodbound - Creatures Of The Dark Realm

The mystery surrounding any new Bloodbound album is not whether it will be any good (they're usually all reasonably solid), but who they will be copying this time. They started with Iron Maiden on "Nosferatu", they tried Soilwork on the awesome "Tabula Rasa", and have done Judas Priest and Sabaton in later years. That's my major gripe with Bloodbound. After all these years and all these albums, I still don't really have much sense of what their identity is, since they keep adopting someone else's nearly every time out. It's hard to be impressed by a band when you don't know who they are.

Picking the point of reference took a bit more time on this album, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the one hand, if they really did inject a bit more originality, it would be a good development. However, it could also be that I'm just a bit more out of touch with the power metal genre right now, so it wasn't as obvious to me as it will be to others. Once I heard it, it was unmistakable; Bloodbound is now Powerwolf.

That said, "Ever Burning Flame" takes us back to the "Nosferatu" days, but that's only worth so much, since the melodies of that time were the most generic power metal tropes they could find. That's still the case here, with a song that sounds played out even before it ends the first time. They can't escape being generic, and it has long made them a less interesting band than they could be.

When they do adopt a heavier dose of Powerwolf's sound, things improve. Moments like the chorus of "Eyes Come Alive" are massive, catchy, and bigger in scope than Bloodbound usually is. The problem with this approach, however, is that it is exceedingly rare to do a band's sound better than they themselves do it. Powerwolf has been on a roll on their last few albums, and Bloodbound doesn't quite have the operatic flair they do, so they come up short of the bar.

What I can say, though, is that this is the most successful pastiche they have engaged in since "Tabula Rasa". Sure, I like Powerwolf more than the other bands they have been borrowing from, but this sound seems to fit their songwriting better anyway. If I didn't have a history of being frustrated by Bloodbound, I would hear this album and be impressed by their ability to write songs in this style and tone. It's only knowledge and personal grievance that is holding them back.

I can still nit-pick them for the cynical approach to their music, but this time I won't deny the results. This is the best Bloodbound album in ages, and the first one I will also say is good on its own terms. Power metal may still be stale as a genre, but there's something great about it when it's done at the highest level. This album comes pretty darn close to getting there. I like this one.