REVIEW: Bonded By Blood - "The Aftermath"
Let’s push the rewind button and hit the era when the world saw the face of metal in its heaviest quintessence, the time when Bay Area Thrash Movement marked an epoch in the history of heavy metal. It dates back in 1980, the year of formation of Exodus. Some of the biggest acts belonging to thrash metal and death metal were a part of this motion; Exodus, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Death Angel, Possessed and Testament are amongst the bands which helped heavy metal gain international recognition. After its decline in early 1990s, thrash metal had almost kicked the bucket until the new wave called Thrash Metal Revival Movement salvaged the scene. One of the bands belonging to the movement, Bonded By Blood (named after Exodus’ debut album) beat around 250 bands in a band-hunt competition and got themselves a recording contract. Since then the band has released a demo, an E.P and two albums and here we are with yet another ravishing record, ‘The Aftermath’.
‘The Aftermath’ marks a major change in the line-up of the band; Carlos Regalado & Juan Juarez continue as drummer and guitarist for the band, whereas Mauro Gonzales & Jessie Sanchez join in on vocals and bass. Despite these changes, the band has maintained their genre and style throughout the album. Like the previous albums, the songs on this record display all the characteristics desired in typical thrash numbers: high tempo riffs, aggressive nature, shredding and some frantically fast work on percussion's which the band uniquely combines these traits with alternative/hardcore elements; so if you are looking for something similar to classic thrash, like The Big Four or Kreator or Possessed, this is just not the band.
‘The Aftermath’ is full of energy-drenched tracks like ‘Repulsive’, ‘Restless Mind’ and ‘Crawling In The Shadows’. Although in my opinion, the song, ‘I Can’t Hear You’ gives a pretty ordinary start to the album. A thrash metal album is characterized by catchy nature of its tracks and the first one especially should have a tour de force. However most of the tracks succeed our expectations with some quality compositions, which rush all the adrenaline in our bodies straight to our heads. The solos on the album, played mainly on harmonized minor scales, have been ‘shredded’ to perfection. We can experience some really speedy ‘Usain Bolt’ runs and clean sweeps on songs like ‘In A Wake’, ‘Repulsive’, ‘Restless Mind’ and ‘Left behind’.
My pick from the album would be ‘Shepherds Of Rot’ (a cult thrash track) and ‘Among The Vulture’ (evil enough to crush your spirits). The work on guitars has been wonderful throughout, although I personally feel that the patch chosen isn’t apt for thrash metal. Perhaps cutting the mid a bit and increasing the treble would have sounded more apropos. Sanchez did a good work on bass too; there are some really good basslines in the title track and ‘Crawling In The Shadows’. Vocals, I would say were a bit disappointing; the alternative essence in them sounded a bit mediocre to me. Anyhow, the drums added a lot of dynamics to the tracks and were quite impressive all over. The album also features a nicely performed cover of the rap metal band Rage Against The Machine’s song, ‘Killing In The Name’.
Summing up, the album is a great release from the band and is recommended for all heavy listeners.
Rating: 8/10
‘The Aftermath’ marks a major change in the line-up of the band; Carlos Regalado & Juan Juarez continue as drummer and guitarist for the band, whereas Mauro Gonzales & Jessie Sanchez join in on vocals and bass. Despite these changes, the band has maintained their genre and style throughout the album. Like the previous albums, the songs on this record display all the characteristics desired in typical thrash numbers: high tempo riffs, aggressive nature, shredding and some frantically fast work on percussion's which the band uniquely combines these traits with alternative/hardcore elements; so if you are looking for something similar to classic thrash, like The Big Four or Kreator or Possessed, this is just not the band.
‘The Aftermath’ is full of energy-drenched tracks like ‘Repulsive’, ‘Restless Mind’ and ‘Crawling In The Shadows’. Although in my opinion, the song, ‘I Can’t Hear You’ gives a pretty ordinary start to the album. A thrash metal album is characterized by catchy nature of its tracks and the first one especially should have a tour de force. However most of the tracks succeed our expectations with some quality compositions, which rush all the adrenaline in our bodies straight to our heads. The solos on the album, played mainly on harmonized minor scales, have been ‘shredded’ to perfection. We can experience some really speedy ‘Usain Bolt’ runs and clean sweeps on songs like ‘In A Wake’, ‘Repulsive’, ‘Restless Mind’ and ‘Left behind’.
Summing up, the album is a great release from the band and is recommended for all heavy listeners.
Rating: 8/10
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Reviewed By,
Varun Khatri
