{"id":15527,"date":"2013-11-29T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T00:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=15527"},"modified":"2013-12-22T16:34:56","modified_gmt":"2013-12-22T16:34:56","slug":"album-review-bloodgood-dangerously-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-bloodgood-dangerously-close\/","title":{"rendered":"BLOODGOOD – Dangerously Close (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLOODGOOD
Dangerously Close<\/strong><\/span>
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\nDoolittle Group (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Has it really been 22 years since Christian rockers Bloodgood graced our ears?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always found the \u201cChristian metal\u201d tag irrelevant because so many good 80s bands were mocked for their anti-satanic beliefs, which was kind of daft considering most of the bands who were \u201cpro\u201d Satan were just as cheesy. Even so, the likes of Stryper, and to a lesser extent Bloodgood, were never taken seriously despite releasing some excellent metal albums.<\/p>\n

These Seattle rockers began life in 1984 but after five studio outings, a decade later they succumbed, rather ironically, to the Seattle grunge scene and split. Their return however is most certainly a welcome one, with original members Michael Bloodgood (bass) and Les Carlsen (vocals) back for another shot, this time accompanied by guitarists Paul Jackson and Stryper\u2019s Oz Fox, as well as drummer Kevin Whisler.<\/p>\n

The first noise from the band in regards to their reformation was the stirring \u2018Lamb Of God\u2019 track, the opening cut off this 13-track affair. At first listen, one can\u2019t help but notice the crunching guitars and weighty menace, especially in Carlsen\u2019s convincing vocal which shifts in tone to lead us to the melodic, soaring chorus.<\/p>\n

The stirring harmony continues with the infectious \u2018Bread Alone\u2019 with its grittier vocal and those rattling drums. Little seems to have changed since the fiery days of their 1986 self-titled debut opus and the rollicking Detonation<\/em> in 1987, and while modern technology has enabled the band to make various tweaks, the likes of \u2018Pray\u2019 still hit the right spot, so that old and new fans should find much to savour here.<\/p>\n

Bloodgood are a classic metal band, and no longer adhere to the restrictive tags of yesteryear which would have hindered their progress, and any real metal fan who lends an ear to the likes of \u2018In The Trenches\u2019, with its doomy trudge and choppy raps, must surely marvel that this great beast has awoken from its slumber.<\/p>\n

With so many old school metal bands reforming, but destined to fail in their quest for nostalgia, Bloodgood have simply continued from where they left off, and this revival is topped off by the fantastically wistful ballad \u2018Father Father\u2019 with its fluent guitar whine and those simple yet effective drums. It\u2019s on this track where Les Carlsen shines through, and while that voice has obviously matured with the occasional crack, this brooding, swaying number becomes all the more classy for it. And when one considers that this track is accompanied by the likes of \u2018I Will\u2019, \u2018I Can Hold On\u2019 and the accessible \u2018Man In The Middle\u2019, one only hopes that Dangerously Close<\/em> is not a farewell to fans.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLOODGOODDangerously Close Doolittle Group (2013)Rating: 8\/10 Has it really been 22 years since Christian rockers Bloodgood graced our ears? I\u2019ve always found the \u201cChristian metal\u201d tag irrelevant because so many good 80s bands were mocked for their anti-satanic beliefs, which was kind of daft considering most of the bands who were \u201cpro\u201d Satan were just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,834],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-bloodgood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15527"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15532,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15527\/revisions\/15532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}