BLOODBOUND Creatures of the Dark Realm | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

 

Released by AFM Records on May 28th, 2021

Quick Background

Bloodbound is a Swedish melodic power metal force slaying dragons since the band surfaced in 2005 with their debut album, Nosferatu. At the beginning Bloodbound celebrated their admiration for metal icons like Iron Maiden, Helloween and Judas Priest. But they have since crafted their own sound and audience. The brainchild of Fredrik Bergh (Keys) and Tomas Olsson (Lead Guitar). Their debut album Nosferatu featured former Tad Morose singer Urban Breed. But after some turbulence with Breed, Patrik Selleby has established himself as the lead vocalist and a new major force on the band since his debut with their fourth album Unholy Cross (2011). I personally think their best album with Patrik is 2017's War of Dragons, so let's see if Bloodbound capture that magic again with the new album, Creatures Of The Dark Realm. 

Creatures Of The Dark Realm

This is their ninth studio album following Rise Of The Dragon Empire from 2019. The three-headed songwriting team of keyboardist Fredrik Bergh, guitarist Tomas Olsson and vocalist Patrik Selleby put together a collection of 11 songs and an intro track totaling 46 minutes of epic power metal. The new album is an-up-tempo assault, with 4-min-ish direct songs from start to finish. There's not a single ballad in sight. All of the songs are a close variations of the traditional power metal song form with intro/verse/bridge/chorus/solo/chorus. But that's not a problem as those guys are not a prog metal band. Their focus is really on the big choruses almost always with huge vocal harmonization, creating an album full with bombastic anthemic metal hymns. I don't even have to point examples as the whole album is full of those. With that said "Gathering of Souls" stands out to me with one of the coolest choruses of the album. But there are many others, for example the  single "March Into War" and track 3 "When Fate Is Calling" are certainly future live favorites. Both very groovy with sing along hooks. 

And it's not only about the choruses, verses and bridges are also well written to support the epic feel of the album and to create big hooks and catchy melodies all over it. A highlight in this area is "Eyes Come Alive", here the band dialed up aggressiveness during the verses. I even wish Patrik would explore this side of his vocal range a little bit more throughout the album. 

The execution of their ideas is standard quality power metal. Clean and modern production and good musicianship. There are some tasteful guitar solos here and there, but never overdone or too long. I also  really enjoy Patrik's vocals. He is a well balanced singer being able to hit the high notes, add some aggression but never overdone.

The Picky Guy

If you are not into straightforward 90's European Power Metal, this is not for you. But if you're not lactose intolerant, you will enjoy yourself with all the cheese available to you here. With that said, there are a couple of moments that even for me it got a bit too much. Most notably the songs "Ever Burning Flame" are "Kill Or Be Killed" go too much into happy metal territory. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

Bloodbound is back into form with a non apologetic blistering power metal album as it should be. Despite a couple of fillers and the lack of originality, the album delivers what we expect from a sing-along power metal. That means: bombastic choruses, enough aggression and a huge amount of melody and hooks. That can only be successful due to the good song writing and execution of almost all songs on Creatures of the Dark Realm. To me this all makes Creatures of the Dark Realm just into the halls of a very good album, scoring 82/100. Power Metal fans can go for it with no doubts.

SCORE: 82/100

Genre: Power Metal

Released by AFM Records on May 28th, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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