{"id":21406,"date":"2014-09-01T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T00:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=21406"},"modified":"2014-09-01T16:53:24","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T16:53:24","slug":"album-review-bloodsoaked-religious-apocalypse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-bloodsoaked-religious-apocalypse\/","title":{"rendered":"BLOODSOAKED – Religious Apocalypse (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLOODSOAKED
Religious Apocalypse<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nComatose Music (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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North Carolina-based death metal merchants Bloodsoaked have returned with their first release since 2011. A lot of things can change in three years, but founding member and sole survivor Peter Hasselbrack is still content to plough on with his unrelenting brand of American death metal by way of this brand spanking new nine-track affair.<\/p>\n

The only negative aspect of this, however, is that the platter only contains three new tracks; the rest is made up of four live tracks and a brace of peculiar covers that you wouldn\u2019t expect from an extreme metal band \u2013 Ratt\u2019s \u2018You\u2019re In Love\u2019 and Cinderella\u2019s \u2018Shake Me\u2019. Hey, some will appreciate the novelty, but others may have wished for more new songs.<\/p>\n

But anyway, let\u2019s get to the nitty-gritty of Bloodsoaked. They were formed in 2006 as a studio act until Hasselbrack was approached to play several gigs. Aided by an iPod which provided the drum tracks, Hasselbrack was able to tour the world and release a clutch of notable recordings; 2007\u2019s Brutally Butchered<\/em> debut, 2009\u2019s Sadistic Deeds… Grotesque Memories<\/em>, and 2011\u2019s The Death Of Hope<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So, let us look at the new tracks from Religious Apocalypse<\/em>. First up we have \u2018Devouring\u2019, which is expectedly a hard \u2019n\u2019 heavy affair that features a machine-gun drum barrage and some of the most devastating riffs I\u2019ve heard for a while. Indeed, Hasselbrack may not be known for his flights of fancy within the death metal realm \u2013 preferring a no frills sort of assault \u2019n\u2019 battery on the senses \u2013 but when death metal is this tight and belligerent, it\u2019s difficult not to take note. Hasselbrack\u2019s vocals are a harsh, hoarse grunt of brutality enshrouded by some pummelling slower passages and then those face-ripping slabs of sonic torment in the faster, clinical sections.<\/p>\n

\u2018Abomination\u2019 also hurts to the core as it slowly crawls into the ear-space before the blitzkrieg of churning riffs and percussive angst. It\u2019s probably the catchiest of the three new tracks, featuring some distressing mid-tempo arrangements, while the title track is far less forgiving. Mind you, \u2018Religious Apocalypse\u2019 does begin almost identically to \u2018Abomination\u2019 as a slow, pensive grate before the obliteration of the gallop injects.<\/p>\n

The two cover versions are intriguing to say the least. After all, how many death metal bands would have the guts to cover glam metal songs? \u2018Shake Me\u2019 starts with a kickin\u2019 drum and then a cool sassy riff, but the huge issue here is the fact that in spite of the humorous quality of the tracks, both cover versions completely alter the sound of Bloodsoaked. This would suggest of course that Hasselbrack has made two blazing errors here when he could have written two more brain-stomping death metal brain-squashers instead. \u2018Shake Me\u2019 just doesn\u2019t work and neither does \u2018You\u2019re In Love\u2019, although of the two this is the less awkward sounding. And as for the live cuts, \u2018Grinding Your Guts\u2019 is the only track to be plucked from the debut platter and it\u2019s probably the best of the live batch, although \u2018No God\u2019, \u2018Infestation\u2019 and \u2018 Suicide\u2019 do exactly what you\u2019d expect as straight-up death metal head-crushers.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Bloodsoaked\u2019s latest offering is an essential chunk to bite into, but for curious fans eager for a few live snippets and that trio of new tracks, this should be ideal.<\/p>\n

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

BLOODSOAKEDReligious Apocalypse Comatose Music (2014)Rating: 7\/10 North Carolina-based death metal merchants Bloodsoaked have returned with their first release since 2011. A lot of things can change in three years, but founding member and sole survivor Peter Hasselbrack is still content to plough on with his unrelenting brand of American death metal by way of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-bloodsoaked"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406","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=21406"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21410,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21406\/revisions\/21410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}