Monday 19 May 2014

Blood Storm - Pestilence from the Dragonstar

BLOOD STORM - Pestilence from the Dragonstar (SOUL SOLD - CD 1999)
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

1 comment:

  1. Did you used to post on sherdog under the name Kolchak by any chance?

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