Bleeding Gods - Shepherd Of Souls

This is death/thrash from The Netherlands, a pretty cool release in all as I generally find bands in this sub-genre to be a little generic and safe. A debut album and a surprising one for this label who seem to be expanding their wings, but make no mistake, this is an album of some substance.

The title track ‘Shepherd of Souls’ starts with a nice thrashing riff and style, simple effective and fulfilling. The drum patterns and groove that later comes reminds me of some of the big US hard hitters and I am sure there are some vocal phrases (courtesy of Mark Huisman - ex Drummer of Debauchery [not the German version!]) that on some sound system sound a little like Tom G Warrior and maybe Cronos, it’s that guttural after rasp I hear, and I guess listening to the fuzzy mid-section of this track you may get my meaning as its overlaid with the vocal just before the two minute mark before picking up the pace. This is not a band with novice musicians. Some have spent time with the aforementioned Debauchery, Sinister, and a few others, the experience shows.

I don’t feel the need for the instrumental track ‘Ixmucané’, but it does lead into the death thrash monster ‘The Lords of Xibalbá’ that reminds me of a stalwart of the Dutch underground in the band Occult although later in this track the artificial harmonics aren’t really to my taste. ‘Empire of the Immortals’ is rabid, really catchy and very heavy, a perfect up tempo thrashier track to keep your blood pumping and head shaking in approval. Overall, before delving into this release and going for the throat purely on the music, it’s a heavy sucker, once you delve into the tracks individually then you get a better appreciation for the bands history and the direction that they’ve chosen to assault the music world with. An assault that leaves me no doubt that this is bruising and you won’t win, but the rewards are plentiful when you own this CD.


  1. Abyss Of The World     
  2. Into The Depth Of Misery     
  3. Shepherd Of Souls     
  4. Rise From Ashes     
  5. Ixmucané (I) - Instrumental
  6. The Lords Of Xibalbá (II)     
  7. Glorious Relentless Destiny     
  8. Empire Of The Immortals     
  9. Human Weakness      
  10. Symbolic Sculptures

 

 


Reviewer: twansibon
Apr 3, 2015
Next review: Thornafire - Magnaa

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