World Under Blood

Tactical

Written by: PP on 21/07/2011 22:30:00

Melodeath fans, here's a bombshell of a record for you that'll be unleashed in just a couple of weeks' time by a band called World Under Blood. You probably haven't heard of them yet even if you're scouring the web daily for your next fix in the genre, because they don't have more than an EP out just yet, but that's about to change very shortly. Their debut album, "Tactical", namely happens to be one of the very best melodic death metal albums released in the last couple of years that doesn't feature the name Dark Tranquillity somewhere on the artwork.

A bold statement, sure, but allow me to expand on that: everything you've ever loved about melodic death metal from the way it was meant to be played in the old days is here: tapped leads, Gothenburg-style soloing, brutal high-speed double-pedal blast beats, astonishing melodies contrasted by the harsh barks of their vocalist, brilliant song structures that never sway away from the origins of the genre...it's all there. Remember the days when melodeath meant playing death metal - just with a ton of melody layered on top of the mix? That's roughly what World Under Blood have successfully done on "Tactical". Most other modern bands classified as melodeath are almost indistinguishable from straight-up metalcore given how they're raping the Gothenburg scales, but there isn't a whiff of metalcore present here. All the elements, whether the harsh vocals, the drum onslaught, or the sublime lead guitars, work together in a great symbiosis, complementing each other's qualities brilliantly in a manner that's only possible with a group of people who all share an exact understanding of what the band's identity and sound should be.

Better yet, World Under Blood don't sound like many others in their genre. They aren't simply rehashing old In Flames riffs or cloning Dark Tranquillity, although the tapped melodies have certainly been inspired by the latter's newer material. They feel more like a bridge between the raw, unadulterated sound of the old, original melodic death metal, and the modern, crispy production of what is often referred to as 'modern metal'. That showcases just how strong the songwriting on display here really is. And though the occasional clean vocals may put off some elitists, the rest of us can enjoy one of the strongest examples of melodic death metal you'll hear in the near future.

Download: Into The Arms Of Cruelty, Under The Autumn Low, Purgatory And Dormitory
For the fans of: Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, Darkest Hour, Raunchy
Listen: Myspace

Release date 05.08.2011
Nuclear Blast

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.