Trad/Speed Metalers Blood Star Refuse To Give In To The Fear On Debut EP
I will admit that before I had the opportunity to write this I was drooling over the first track of this EP not long after it hit Bandcamp. I won’t shy from the fact that I am a sucker for killer cover art and god damn this cover is sick. You could easily convince me that this was a release from 1984 based on the art alone. I wouldn’t argue.
Virginia based artist Markus Fussell can lend his brush to as many albums as possible and the scene would benefit. Google him and you’ll see what I mean. Of course, we’ve all been lead-in by the promise of good album art only to be left disappointed. I’m happy to report that this is not the case with Blood Star’s The Fear.
Blood Star is a brand new project based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and composed of guitarist Jamison Palmer, bassist Noah Hadnutt, drummer Daniel Alexander, and vocalist Madeline Smith. What I did not know before sitting down to peruse the promo material (provided by Shadow Kingdom Records) is that guitarist Jamison Palmer is one of the two guitarists who founded trad-worshipping power-metal partisans Visigoth.
Now, I respect Visigoth, but they’ve always had one foot planted too firmly on the side of cheese for me to buy in completely. They have their moments, but I’m not too familiar with their catalog. I’m pleased to say that even with two songs clocking in just shy of nine minutes, Blood Star’s debut demo takes what I do like about Visigoth and dials it way the fuck up.
Title track “The Fear” opens with the kind of furious riffing from Palmer that immediately grabs you by the throat. I found myself restarting the track over and over to hear those ten seconds of speed blurred picking before Hadnutt and Alexander break in with the rhythm section. And what a rhythm section it is. We’re talking brutish, pummel-your-skull drumming and that clear, unrelenting bass that you love in a genre that can sometimes do it’s bass players dirty in the mix.
Smith’s voice is classic and pristine with just enough edge to keep it from the land of power metal cheese. Lyrically, we’re in the realm of fist-clenching, head nodding, confidence-boosting zeal. Fuck yeah, Madeline, I won’t give in to the fear. I mean, I love my blood and guts and nihilistic doom, but sometimes you need something to bring you back and boost your resolve. Ronnie James Dio would be proud to belt this one.
Track two, Tortured Earth, opens at a slower pace, conjuring classic, heavy rock atmospheres a la Blue Oyster or Thin Lizzy. This is a fun, slow (relatively speaking) gallop through apocalyptic, environment-conscious themes where, again, Smith’s voice ties the package together into a tight bundle of roots worshiping trad-metal. While I’m missing the speed of the first track there’s still a finger-licking solo to keep things mean enough to tear the sleeves off a denim jacket. Honestly, Palmer’s guitar work will have your fingers curling into air guitar position on reflex. This is a solid b-side and it rounds out a satisfying sampling that I hope we see more of on their full length, tentatively due out from Shadow Kingdom Records in late 2020/early 2021.
Be sure to snag a copy of this on vinyl or tape over at Shadow Kingdom’s website or their Bandcamp page linked below. The EP officially drops on May 29th.
Shadow Kingdom’s Homepage: https://www.shadowkingdomrecords.com
Shadow Kingdom on Bandcamp: https://www.facebook.com/shadowkingdomrecords
Shadow Kingdom on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shadowkingdomrecords