| CD REVIEW Bloodwritten |
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Band: Bloodwritten Poland’s Bloodwritten (not the American Death Metal band) were formed in 1997 by screamer / (second) guitar player Bastard and lead guitarist Thanathos. After a nameless demo, the band recorded their self-financed debut full length, Pages In Blood (2000), yet soon after, the band underwent several line-up changes. It took until 2004 before Bloodwritten recorded some new demonstration songs. The second demo, Reborn, was recorded and mastered at the huge Polish Hertz Studio (think Vesania, Hellveto, Crionics, Moon, Deivos etc), and it showed a change in musical direction. Both first demo and full length brought occult and magical Black Metal; this second demo stood for sharp old school-inspired Thrash / Black Metal. In that very same vein, the second studio album, Iniquity Intensity Insanity, continues that blackened-thrashing path, and Bloodwritten’s adapted style got received very positively. In 2009 the band was able to do their first big tour in support of Polish Hate. In the second half of 2009, Bloodwritten entered the Sophiria Studio to record the third full length, which was mastered again at Hertz Studio by Szymon Czech. Some tracks from this recording session were available and downloadable (for free) on the web as the Whore EP a couple of months ago. And after signing to Polish Witching Hour Productions, the album has just been released officially. Thrashin’ Fury brings, indeed, over forty minutes of furious Thrash. Thrash Fury indeed, and of the right kind! Still there’s a fantastic blackened edge, all flavoured with an Old Skool-spirit and a barbaric attitude. My first impression (and also my second, third and six hundred and sixty sixth impression) is: Sweden! Damn, if I didn’t know this formation was a Polish one, I would have sworn they were Swedish. Bewitched, Raise Hell, Witchery, Maze Of Torment, even early Bathory, it’s just an idea. Or what about the German scene: Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and internationally seen I must think too about bands as Possessed, Razor (the Canadian one), Slayer, Venom and this lovely kind of peaceful combos. Huge names, and in this band’s case the average quality is high too. Oke, a total absence of originality (even lyrically) is what Thrashin’ Fury stands for, but in this case this fact must be ignored completely – with gratitude to the superb, professionally skilled performance. The main tempo is fast, very fast, lightning fast, but Bloodwritten sometimes slow down a little (like that grandiose ultra-oppressing track Zombie Survival). That’s just fine, to avoid apathy. The instruments and vocals are perfectly balanced as well (excellent mix, done by the band itself, assisted by producer Schroeder). One possible remark by undersigned: I do miss an extra dimension of variation. Some tracks sound alike, too much, too often. I’m sure many will not say anything positive about this release because of the copycat-alike approach, but if you make abstraction of this data, and if you can appreciate this kind of ear drum-caressing constructions, then you’ll understand my score. 85/100 Ivan Tibos. |
