Pestilence from the Dragonstar

Blood Storm belongs to my favourite blackened thrash metal bands and sadly I must also say that they seem to be one of the most underestimated and almost kind of forgotten bands around these days. I cannot understand that, really, but from the other hand Blood Storm was never signed to the big and fancy record labels, they remained more underground, hidden in the abyss… and more so, their last album “Sirian Storm” was released way back in 2005. OK., later in 2008 they also appeared on “Ancient Entities Arise” split with Abazagorath… and that’s it. So, maybe it is about time to remind you this amazing American horde and for that I decided to exhume their second CD “Pestilence from the Dragonstar”.

And trust me, motherfuckers, “Pestilence from the Dragonstar” is incredibly killer album. And I dare to say that all of you folks, who shred themselves with all these bestial black / thrash metal like Destroyer666, Aura Noir, Witchmaster, Gospel of the Horns, Pentacle, Sadistic Intent, Absu and several others will love Blood Storm as well. To me Blood Storm on “Pestilence from the Dragonstar” may sound slightly more barbaric, vicious and furious though. It sounds totally like someone mixed old Sodom with truly fast and violent black metal… Interestingly in many fragments of this and other albums Blood Storm reminds me Enthroned, while in some other they sound similar to Absu, especially if we speak of some vocal arrangements, plus some riffs, breaks, not to mention their lyrics etc. So, give a listen to such songs as “The Chaos Magician”, “Sirius Rebellion” – this is pure, harsh, fast as hell, obscure black metal, with that great feeling and arrangements, which really do remind me Enthroned. They erupt with pure energy, chaos and aggression – love it! And then such “Warth & Vengeance” can remind me the mighty Absu, also because of the lyrics… No surprise really, as Mezzadurus used to help Absu for many years. Such “Death Thunder” has even a stronger resemblance to such “Third Storm of Cythraul” and damn, it is amazing song, with a great old styled, harsh thrash metal influence. And “Successor to the Plague Gods” goes even deeper into these archaic sounds – Sodom, Hellhammer, bit of Venom, you know all these influences well. Great! On top of everything, I must say that I really like the production of the album; nice, slashing guitar tone, great vocals… truly perfect stuff.

I guess that the only thing, which I don’t like so much about Blood Storm and “Pestilence from the Dragonstar” is the artwork / colouring of the booklet… But that is something what I can say about all their albums, really, just take a look at that artwork of “Sirius Storm”. So maybe it is better for me not to comment the artwork and the Blood Storm image and rather focus on the truly amazing music of this band. Definitely “Pestilence from the Dragonstar” is one of those albums, which I must recommend to all freaks of obscure metal… Damn, it is just awesome material, so vicious, so powerful… You just must get it for your collections!
Standout tracks: “Death Thunder”, “The Chaos Magician”, “The Angel Web”
Final rate: 85/100

Bloodstorm exist in a space that balances perfectly between the genres of black and death metal, perhaps because they take something of an 'old school' approach to songwriting and the construction of their melodies, never making either of these elements too complex or too obscure for the listener to misunderstand their intent. While their lyrics may evoke or summon realms of elder magick that the novice might find a little too overwhelming at first, this band launches right out at you from the starting gate and they never sink into ponderous subtleties in their chaotic guitar compositions. No, they'd rather just the batter the hell out of you.

I love this kind of music because it is 'brutal' without being ridiculous or indecipherable, and it allows the musicians to express a great deal of passionate anger or hatred without going over the edge into cynical anti-listener 'atonal' wanderings. This is highly listenable all the while, just like the bands that probably inspired this group of stalwarts. I don't really want to compare this to any one group of bands from the past specifically, although there are tones and shades of a lot of '80s metal in this (I hear Celtic Frost), and the closest I think any other band has come to this style of music would be the two first releases from Destroyer 666 (looking at it backwards, of course) - there's a segment/riff in the third song 'The Chaos Magician' (starting at about 2:55, and then again at 3:35) that sounds exactly like D666, amazingly enough. Bloodstorm employ a similar aesthetic as that group of Aussie warriors: speed bordering on the edge of losing control, drums splashing and crashing everywhere, simple accelerating riffs that follow manic melodies, a vocalist (the band leader Mezzadurus) screaming almost constantly, etc. In other words: good, solid, traditional, occult-obsessed black thrash (for lack of a better term) that doesn't really break any new ground, but which doesn't disappoint in any way either.

For the first few listens, the songs on this album ran completely together for me...it sounded like one long 50-minute death thrash epic opus, and I was stunned by their intensity. I'm sure that seeing this band play live must be exhausting - they allow themselves little room for rest in the course of their material, and I think they are happiest when they feel like everything is about to collapse from a sheer overload of energy. After a few more spins, the tracks began to differentiate themselves from each other, and I was able to find especially pleasing riffs and melodies, if not whole songs. It is difficult for me to pin down exactly what it is that makes this band work for me - you know what a futile task it is these days to try to describe or categorize bands when they are blending styles right and left, but I enjoy this in the same way that I enjoy the Australian thrash bands or other groups like Nifelheim or Aura Noir: they offer a certain level of pure aggressiveness and flailing violence in their music that has been missing from metal for a long time. It's useless to try to label this as black metal or death metal or retro thrash or place it in whatever subgenre you can think of - what's the use? They combine elements of everything into a holocaust that would shame a lot of their influences...

UA

Erebus Magazine
http://erebuszine.blogspot.com

Blood Storm's third full length offering, "Pestilence From the Dragonstar", is a full on assault of black-thrash in the vein of Sodom and Celtic Frost, or maybe even Slaughter. They also bare a blaring similarity to Enthroned, which is a definite plus. You can't seem to pin them to thrash, and you can't seem to call them full blown black metal, because their allegiance seems to shift constantly throughout the record.

The guitars come flying at you like buzzsaws with simplistic, droning riffs, in the vein of Sodom. Unlike Sodom, though, the guitar sound is very grainy, as if the album was recorded with a tape recorder.

Although the guitar sound is very kultish, the rest of the instruments are blaring and quite clear. Especially Mezza's vocals, which sound exactly like Sabathan's (of Enthroned) vocals. The drums are your standard black metal drums, with repetitive pounding, but surprisingly, there is a lack of blastbeats. I can not remember a single blastbeat on this record, which adds a bit of "what the fuck" to the equation.

The entire album is fast, without any slow downs or interludes, which makes it seem like one entire psychotic episode.

This band is a definite contender to the throne of american black metal, even if they aren't full blown black metal (the only thing they don't have is the atmosphere). And while most black metal bands rant on about Satan and evil and the destruction of Christianity, Blood Storm take a unique approach to the occult. They seem to have made up their own demons, deities, and nefarious religion. Their whole lyrical concept seems to come straight out of a Lovecraft story, with names like Amprodias-Azoth and Igigi being thrown around. They also throw around mythological deities, like Typhon and Set.

All together this is a great album. If you want some good american black/thrash metal, look no further than Blood Storm. But don't expect to understand most of the lyrics, even after reading them in the booklet.