A Very Late Celebration of Bloodletter's A Different Kind of Hell (2023)
When I think of the best albums of 2023, one theme I saw running through was a handful of American Death/Thrash albums really flowed their way to my top five-six albums of the year. Along with albums like Tomb Mold's The Enduring Spirit, Wayfarer's American Gothic, Uada's Crepuscule Natura, and Blackbraid's II these albums are the ones I come back to frequently a couple years later. (I'm sure I'm forgetting something obvious and will kick myself later).
But three thrashing albums also make up the top of my list. Graveripper's Seasons Dreaming Death, Xoth's Exogalactic, and Bloodletter's A Different Kind of Hell. Enforced's War Remains also belongs here but I forgot it when I started writing. These albums are all very different - Xoth is sci-fi progressive death thrash, an album that is fun and modern. Graveripper's Seasons Dreaming Death brings death and black metal influences to a Thrash Metal base, aggressive, heavy, and dark. But today I want to celebrate the horror themed, blackened thrash of Bloodletter.
This album, to me, is the perfect encapsulation of harmony in metal. It's like they set out and said, "Let's
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| Bloodletter - A Different Kind of Hell (2023) |
I haven't been a recording metalhead in a long time. More than 20 years since I last put together a song. But if I was recording an album, this is one I'd want to make. One of my favorite things when recording songs back in the day was adding creative, different melodies and harmonies. I loved harmonizing leads and rhythms in places nobody else would put them, or where other people would say they're not needed. That's how this feels to me, but it's done by real, talented, crazy ass thrash metal musicians.
I'm going to make a statement that will sound like hyperbole, but to me, this album is the culmination of all those harmonic black metal, death metal, melodeath, melothrash records. It fulfilled the promise of the Gothenburg sound. I have never heard another album go this all in on the harmony, no metalcore album has gone this far into the At the Gates sound, no melodeath band has added this many harmonies to their melodies, and nobody has done this much all at the same time.
The songs themselves are mystical and horror themed. Vampires, demons, night, death, evil - vocals are shrieked, not screamed, and all are very understandable. I've heard criticism of the vocals they aren't super dynamic, but the vocals here are not about dynamics, they're about creating the perfect environment for the guitars and bass to come in and be the main singers of the songs. The drumming is solid, mixed low to allow the guitars to shine, but keeping a beat well, throwing in some impressive double-bass beats.
There are tracks up and down the track listing worth listening to intently. It begins with The Howling Dead, a moderately fast paced melothrash anthem and perfect opener. From Hell They Came mixes a fast NWOBHM style rhythm with those signature harmonies. The next track, The Last Tomb, slows things down, with a slow, proggy harmony to open and then turning into a fiery triplet assault with an opening solo that wouldn't sound out of place on an early Slayer record.
Bloodletter is releasing a new album this year, which they've said goes in a little more aggressive, less melodic direction. I'll be a little sad about the new direction, but honestly, they accomplished everything they should have here. Another record like this is not needed. Like I said, they fulfilled this promise. This is a great album. Check it out.
Bloodletter - A Different Kind of Hell (2023) on Bandcamp
Bloodletter - A Different Kind of Hell (2023) Full album on YouTube
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