Bloodrose
Into Oblivion
Retribute
This is black metal as charred and dark as the eyeliner that I thought that the boys in this Finnish outfit would be sporting; much to my surprise, there wasn’t a drop of face paint on any of these guys’ faces. Strangely enough, too, I was quite happy with the way this record sounds (as I usually scoff at black metal, in general).
What I usually hate about black metal is the lack of bass guitar, overabundance of blast beats, operatic singing/screaming, keyboards, and corpse paint; Bloodrose must be aware of such painful sides of B.M., as they seem to attack each one of the genre’s deficiencies. There’s plenty of bass guitar here, and the bass (kick) drum is really loud and prominent. The lead singer comes off as almost demented, with a voice so shrill and evil that the minions of the dark world praise this guy with fists raised high (and mullets flowing like a lion’s mane). In terms of the blast beats on this record, they’re done tastefully enough, as to not send the listener into convulsions, as many a black metal album has been known to do. As I said before, these guys, “look”-wise, are just down home Finnish boys, sans idiotic corpse paint.
The guitars are this record are the champions, with lightning fast riffs and melodic hooks. The players are highly talented, creative, and they have a good ear for a catchy, yet still evil, melody. The riffs these guys come up with are the kind that you sit around the house, emulating with your distorted guitar voice.
Sadly, this record is not without its faults, namely the keyboards. They’re way too loud, and they take away from the aggression and ferocity of the rest of the band members. I’m not sure why B.M. bands are so obsessed with keyboards, but they totally smear the raw evil on this record.
Overall, though, this one rocks hard, from start to Finnish. Into Oblivion is this band’s first full-length, and it’s a very high quality debut, to say the least. If you take Dark Funeral, get rid of their corniness and posturing, add talent and sincerity, then you’ll have a basic idea as to what this record sounds like.
Retribute Records: http://www.retributerecords.com
