Album Review: Bloodcross - Gavebound
Reviewed by Eric Clifford
Dusk slips from the horizon’s shoulder as dark floods in once more. Lancing fractures of lightning split thickening gloom in the space between startled blinks, the flare lingering in the dull gleam of scattered bones, brittle mortal anchors for the ghosts that tread amongst them. Here a gnarled clutch of fingers, there a skull, set grinning from within the knot of roots it fell upon. My own footfalls come soft, sodden by rain that sneaks like a thief between webs of dead branches stood clasping at the sky to pluck the eyes from the night itself. Alone aside the company of phantoms go I, bearer of the Bloodcross, bound for the grave.
Metal contains multitudes. A universe of sub-sub genres melding and cross pollinating for the pedantic among us to bicker about. I’d like to suggest that Bloodcross’ own particular brew is an unambiguous one. Sat neatly between black metal and melodeath, fretboard theatrics weave like vines about a sturdy melodic core that buries these songs into your hippocampus like bot fly larvae. Gorgeous harmonies cascade in abundance, from the triumphal inflections of mid paced fare like “Beyond Death” to the neoclassical affectations of “Devil Speed”, the righteous heart of true metal, cast molten and aglow, beats throughout “Gravebound” as a whole. You are never more than seconds in any direction from something potentially epidemic in it’s infectiousness. But ah, the best is saved for last with the thunderous closer “Howling Spirits”; thrust forth on a creeping barrage of some of the most explosive, mean spirited percussion yet let fly on “Gravebound” comes the culmination of all the album’s strengths, from it’s soaring, heartfelt lead lines to it’s sheer technical prowess.
I’ve been here before, if not bound within this present fleshly vessel then as some inchoate essence of myself borne within my ancestors that too bore this whispering cross of bloodied pine to here, this place, this nameless earthen catacomb sprawling miles around me. I know not how I know this to be the place, but know I do, in the very marrow of my being. I set the cross and I bide my time, waiting as the grave yawns wider around me.
The more I listen, the deeper the hooks go. The subtleties become apparent, guitar harmonisations on the second repeat of a riff to add a fresh spin on a previous passage, bass lines mutating to emphasise a tune as opposed to drive a rhythm, things like that. The album remains assured of it’s identity as a melodic black metal release, yet this commitment to the cosy confines of it’s genre niche never stops the band from plucking a shard here or fragment there from spheres dotted throughout metal as a whole; ideas of potential influences begin to coalesce, a little Necrophobic meets Metallica worship for a withering black thrash assault on “Pale Avenger”, whereas the epic sweep of the title track speaks to more fantastical influences pulled, perhaps, from the loincloth brigades over in the realms of power or folk metal. The euphoric force of this music is beyond contestation; each track functioned as an irrefutable command for me to bestride my couch, fists pumping to the heavens, screeching the lyrics whilst my children scramble to tell my wife to get the tranquillisers because dad is having one of his “episodes” again.
Somewhere beyond the fringes of my perception the roots cabled about the forest floor twitch free of their slumber and stalk me, slow yet inexorable. Sinewy tendrils wrap languid yet deliberate about my limbs, winding from my extremities to my torso, tender as lovers. It is clear to me now; that fallen skull earlier, latticed by creeping splintered veins, it lay not where it fell but where it was drawn, bound to it’s grave by the trees themselves.
There is little to complain about on “Gravebound”, though it could perhaps be argued that the album, for all the competence of it’s execution, does little that you haven’t heard before. For all it’s anthemic virtues the album is predictable, it’s path careworn by the steps of it’s forefathers. It’s leads, while beautiful, are conventional, it’s chord progressions share the problem, it’s song structure likewise. That this objection forms so inconsequential a demerit when actually listening to “Gravebound”, consuming it’s sourhearted flurries of blasts, tremelos and wrenching screams, testifies to the craftsmanship of the musicians involved and the strength of their vision for this release. You don’t always need to reinvent the wheel; there was, is, and always will be ample space for bands to just do a genre very well. I would opt for a more raw, feral production job, but I’d say as much about any black metal release with audio fidelity north of white noise. I could go on selecting minor nits to be picked, but I know I’d be protesting too much – by every metric that matters this is an exceptional opening salvo from these young Finns.
If you scream random selections from Dissection’s discography at the moment of orgasm, then this album will likely appeal to you. Similarly, if recent efforts from Autonoesis or Night Crowned tickled your fancy, then “Gravebound” comes strongly recommended. One could ask for a more expansive, individual take on the genre but nonetheless this band float gracefully atop an oceanic reservoir of potential and I’ll be watching their next steps with ravenous interest.
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