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The Paderborn-based band Bloodwork was founded in 2006 and has a stable line-up since 2007. The recorded a demo which was Demo Of The Month at Germany's Metal Hammer and they played in 2008 at W.O.A. and Summer Breeze. Now the quintet presents their debut album which is in the vein of Soilwork, Hatesphere and Killswitch Engaged - it's said. So let's check it out!
A short intro leads into The Enemy Within, a fast track with galloping riffs and aggressive vocals. The guys try to combine thrashy riffs and harsh vocals with melodies. The melodies are mainly presented by the guitars of Nikko and Robert, but also the backings are highly melodic. David's vocals are aggressive and harsh, but stays away from growls - most of the time. The following Ex Vita isn't a straight rocker, it offers twists and turns, tempi changes - and again a very melodic refrain. Especially the guitar work sticks out. At A Cycle Once Broken they remind me a bit of Mercenary - at least for a moment. Staccato riffing leads into the fast Demonic. But even if the song is a fast one, they vary a bit. Thrash attacks and a catchy refrain show the different sides of Bloodwork. With crunchy riffs they lead into Hellbound, the guitars at the opening part are obviously influenced by more traditional metal, but then they speed up a bit. The songs musically are almost thrashy power metal with great melodies and fat riffs which work well with the melodic backings, only the harsh vocals / growls give it a different edge... a melodic death metal / metalcore touch. Sure, there are many fans who will love David's vocals, but personally I think that clean vocals would give the songs a different dynamic... At Camp X-Ray the refrain is a bit Nevermore-ish... and the song would be more like the Seattlites, if it wouldn't have the growls. After a slow opening part of Graveheart they storm off into a thrash attack with mean vocals. A song which shows influences of Bay Area thrashers... But they change again and add a catchy up-tempo part. At the following Drowning Stone the chorus seems somehow out of place... But again the guitar play of Nikko and Robert sticks out and I think they are limited a bit by singer David... But that's probably a matter of taste... A keyboard and the guitars lead into the melodic Silent Revolution. The song gets an aggressive edge only from the vocals, the fast riffing make it just heavier. Spoken words lead into the closer Insufficient. Staccato riffs combined with keyboard follows before they head into a thrash part.
Okay, the German youngsters don't present something new and there are similarities to Soilwork, but they show a bunch of good songs, But I think they have to find their own style, coz so many will see them as Soilwork clones. On the other hand they just started and so they have to proof with their next album that they can go their own way.
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