Nosferatu - Reviews

This review can be found here: http://www.metalcrypt.com/pages/review.php?revid=3561

Quite how so many have missed the mark with this lot is frankly a mystery to me, because every ardent power metaller should have been foaming at the mouth to grab a copy of this masterwork of pure, solid, headbangingly fierce craftsmanship. First of all, their vocalist is Urban Breed - of Tad Morose fame- and second, well, does their need to be a second? This guy is one of the best in the business, and when you apply his sonorous wail to songs of this caliber, the only possible outcome is victory, beyond all reasonable doubt.

Here, on the band's debut album, we have eleven well crafted, fastidiously performed Power Metal anthems that sit somewhere in between HammerFall, Iron Maiden and Edguy, with every single one of them owing a quarry of influence to metal history. Big, catchy choruses, nail-biting riffs, shrieking solos, soaring vocals; this has it all. From the galloping opener "Behind The Moon", to its polished follow up "Into The Dark", from the triumphant Freedom Call pomposity of "Fallen From Grace" to the demonic, ball-busting sing along chorus of the title track itself, Bloodbound are certainly not re-writing the history books, but they have read them with fervor, and with that knowledge they have created an homage to the style that is severely hard to lever out of your stereo. Ignore the fact that they look like Dimmu at a fancy dress party; these guys are the shit. And with a follow up that is even better - albeit with Michael Boremann at the mic - Helloween had better be prepared to vacate the Power Metal throne. Their time is up.

(Bruce Dragonchaser, December 2007)

This review can be found here: http://www.metaleater.com/albumreviews-bloodbound2006.php

If it wasn't for the character on the album cover (who looks like some stolen logo from a haunted house in an amusement park), by the look of the band members with the corpse paint and black attire, one could easily assume that we are dealing with another Black Metal band from Northern Europe. Except that in the case of BLOODBOUND, both founding members (also producers of this release), guitarist Tomas Olsson and Fredrik Bergh originally started their association with the AOR formation STREET TALK. They were later joined by Oskar Belin (DETONATOR, EATING MAN) and last but not least, former TAD MOROSE frontman Urban Breed.

With the first couple of tracks, "Behind The Moon" and "Into The Dark", there is no doubt that if BLOODBOUND's goal was to recreate the sound and spirit of the NWOBHM they obviously succeeded way beyond their expectations. Influences such as JUDAS PRIEST, GRIM REAPER and particularly IRON MAIDEN must have been running very high during the songwriting process and then the actual recording as well. With a few more releases in the years to come, BLOODBOUND could easily become a fierce competitor to fellow Swedes HAMMERFALL, especially with more tracks like "Fallen From Grace. To me, the title track "Nosferatu" sounds like a homage being paid to MAIDEN's classics "Hallowed Be thy Name" and "Fear Of The Dark".

Some of BLOODBOUND's song titles such as "Screams In The Night", "Midnight Sun" and "Metal Monster" (which could easily blend in with W.A.S.P.'s catalog, especially with Breed's voice sounding here very reminiscent of Blackie Lawless) can be considered as a strong statement to keep it real and traditional. However, as the album progresses you also discover tracks such as "Crucified" and "Desdemonamelia", which are among the strongest compositions of the present selection. These are more in the vein of what today's Power Metal formations normally offer. Finally, as a last tribute to the old timers, the album closes very strongly with "On The Battlefield".

For the ones who sometimes feel nostalgic for the golden era of Metal in the early '80s, missing out on this album would be a huge mistake. Classic Metal hasn't sounded this real in a long time with each song performed to the perfection and the best of what today's sound has to offer. Highly entertaining and catchy, this album will certainly leave its mark for many years to come.

(Luc Ben Hayoun, date unknown)