Bloodbound – One Night of Blood (AFM Records)

Monday, 15th February 2016
Rating: 8/10

Capturing their recent 2015 Masters of Rock festival appearance in the Czech Republic, One Night of Blood is a DVD + CD set that makes me believe the live album market isn’t as dead as once appeared a few decades ago (remember any solid 90’s efforts you still check out?). Seems like Bloodbound are ready to document their energetic brand of heavy metal with power given six studio albums to cherry pick a potent set list. Fortunate to get close to 70 minutes to showcase their wares, the band concentrate a little over 70% on the Patrick Johansson-led recent era from Unholy Cross, In the Name of Metal, and Stormborn – a heart pounding mixture of up tempo numbers and the steadier 4/4 anthems that promote audience chorus participation.

Certain numbers straddle more of the keyboard-oriented Sabaton rally cry themes like “When the Kingdom Will Fall” or “Stormborn”, while the crowd certainly loves the speedier, happier double bass oriented “Iron Throne” or Judas Priest-like “Metal Monster”. Living for a lot of the clichés within the genre (easy on the ears background vocals tailor made for unison choir back and forth action, lead breaks of a ‘can you top this’ flair, and three songs with metal in the title), Bloodbound doesn’t aim to change the principles or expand horizons – they only wish to please followers through channeling their favorite bands and making it convincing (a little Helloween, Edguy, and Hammerfall there, a touch Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and the aforementioned Sabaton there). Smartly closing with the title cut from their debut album Nosferatu, this scribe imagines the hordes went away sweaty, happy, and filling up their steins with more alcohol as their hoarse voices screamed for more.

The DVD includes a documentary and supplementary video/live performances, so in this day and age where people want more bang for their hard earned money, this dual audio/visual package should give a multi-sensory feast to behold. Celebrating a decade of recording and touring, One Night of Blood rocks as great Swedish melodic power metal should.

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