Band: Holy Blood
Title: Shining Sun
Label: Bombworks Records
Release date: October 19th 2010
Review: CD

Ukrainian crusaders Holy Blood, another Christian-inspired band on Bombworks, were formed by a few Requital-members (Death Metal / Grind / Metalcore) at the end of last century. Three albums have been recorded and released in mean time, The Wanderer (2002), Waves Are Dancing (2004) and The Patriot (released through Bombworks in 2008, yet recorded during the Waves Are Dancing-recording sessions; reviewed at the end of 2008 yet not available anymore at this very moment – but FYI: it had a score of 81/100). All of them were comparable, yet with structural differences. The debut brought a symbiosis of Death and Black Metal with lots of folkloristic elements, the second one was much more Folk-inspired, and their last album combined Black Metal with Folk again, yet with a darker base.
This differentiation goes on with Shining Sun, their newest ten-tracker. When it comes to the spheres, the whole is still built upon Folk-basics, but seen from another vision. The core is more traditional than before, and at the same time it dwells within the same spheres as many Folk Metal bands nowadays. This time, the scene from Finland and the Baltic states played a huge role in the song writing, I guess. The flute is an important instrument, like it was on Waves Are Dancing, and the vocals are more varied again – grunts, screams, clean vocals, harmony chants, collective yells, spoken words and both classical and operatic female voices – the latter more important than ever (and sometimes reminding me to the vocals of Qntal’s Sigrid). The musical centre differs among the songs: sometimes especially Folk-laden, then again traditionally rocking, focussing on Scandinavian and/or Baltic Pagan Metal, or instrumental (Ukrainian Folk indeed). The modest Doom-elements that were present on the former album have completely gone this time.
Shining Sun might be the most catchy Holy Blood-album to date, as well as the most varying one, yet at the same time the less inspirational and less original as well.

70/100

Ivan Tibos.