Blackshine - Lifeblood
Dockyard1 Records

file under Nu metal

Menno: "What is this shit?" was the first thing that went through my mind as I listened to the opening track of Blackshine's new record 'Lifeblood'. I decided to get a little bit more liberal than usual and suddenly the record didn't appear to be as bad as I thought, it actually had some positive aspects! The band calls its style Power Goth and for I'm not an expert in the goth scene I guess I'll just take this for granted. If I really had to pin it to a genre (which I have), I'd put it in the nu-metal corner. Still, some nice thrash influences can be heard every once in a while. In my opinion, these could have been a bit more exaggerated. The song 'Powerghoul', for instance could have been a real thrasher after the teasing intro, but in a stubborn way, the band chooses for a weak (or safe) midtempo drum beat, which pushes the band out of the extreme metal corner.

Songs are often cut in half by some Opeth-like mellow bits. These can be seen as enrichments and varieties, but for me they just slow pace down. This is a real pity, for the majority of the songs are pretty bashing every now an then. On the other hand, these intermezzo's give singer Anders Strokirk the chance of using his nice, dark narrating voice. His vocals are one of the highlight of this record anyway, a nice mix of John Bush (Armored Saint), Lemmy in the Hawkwind days and Neil Fallon (Clutch).

Another pity is the fact the production of the record isn't all that. It's not bad, but also not exceptional. If a band wants to distinguish itself from the masses, it's wise to take risks and not sound like all the other bands in today's industry. Conclusion, Blackshine surprised me with this ok-ish cd, but just isn't exceptionally awesome (yet).


Rating: 70/100 (details)

http://www.blackshine.nu

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