{"id":68355,"date":"2018-04-20T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=68355"},"modified":"2018-04-20T11:30:06","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T11:30:06","slug":"album-review-ross-the-boss-by-blood-sworn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-ross-the-boss-by-blood-sworn\/","title":{"rendered":"ROSS THE BOSS – By Blood Sworn (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROSS THE BOSS
By Blood Sworn<\/strong><\/span>
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\nAFM (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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He\u2019s back! Mr. Ross Friedman, better known as Ross The Boss, should be a name familiar with many a metalhead, but if you\u2019ve been living on another planet then let me just quickly mention how the guitarist bolstered up the armoury of macho metallers Manowar after appearing for New York punk pioneers The Dictators.<\/p>\n

By Blood Sworn<\/em> is a record that has been a long time coming, Ross last having released an opus under the Ross The Boss moniker back in 2010 with Hailstorm<\/em>. But now his new metallic and merry band of brothers \u2013 Marc Lopes (vocals), Mike LePond (bass) and Lance Barnewold (drums) \u2013 have conjured up another molten metal release.<\/p>\n

Ten new songs are served up in volcanic fashion as the title track comes hammering and rolling like scorching lava down a hillside. The percussion of Barnewold is a destructive landslide as the outfit chugs its way through blood, sweat and tears and fist-pumping like never before. This is true metal, glinting like steel and ready for battle as Lopes snarls and growls like a leader of men as Ross\u2019 strings smoulder, fizz and burn. But what else did you expect? The catchy, melodic chorus is fuelled by Lopes\u2019 wail before the posse lowers the tempo, orchestrated by the bubbling bass of LePond and a swirling lead from The Boss.<\/p>\n

\u2018Among The Bones\u2019 follows impeccably; another gritty, well-oiled mid-paced rocker of Mot\u00f6rhead design with its dirty riffage and hefty drum stab. An air of the sinister burns from Lopes\u2019 fiery snarl; \u201cTill death do us part\u201d<\/em> he scowls. \u201cNever walk away… among the bones we lay\u201d<\/em> the singer beams as that gallop gleams again.<\/p>\n

Only two tracks in and we\u2019re bangin\u2019 the head hard and throwing the horns up to caress the sun as \u2018This Is Vengeance\u2019 comes scorching in. \u201cDominate… desecrate… annihilation\u201d<\/em> wails Lopes, accompanied by that sizzling axe action before the soldiers of war begin their march. For sheer weight and deathly intensity, this is one of the album\u2019s best tunes. Heck, this wouldn\u2019t seem out of place on a later Destruction<\/a> opus, although the chorus brings extra sheen and harmony.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, such expressions of aggression aren\u2019t few and far between. \u2018Devil\u2019s Day\u2019 is a steady, oily mid-paced rocker, while the epic seven-minute plus \u2018Lilith\u2019 adds a darker, brooding atmosphere with its suspenseful bass roll intro before the almost doom-laden grit suffocates the ears.<\/p>\n

Within the metal framework the band supply so much variety, both in mood and tempo. \u2018We Are The Night\u2019 is a hasty thrashing roller featuring bony drums and Marc Lopes\u2019 simmering vocal dynamics, while the shortest track, \u2018Play Among The Godz\u2019, is a riotous, galloping fury of infectious riffs, burning drums and vocal crescendos.<\/p>\n

But sift your way through any of these flame-licked passages and you\u2019ll find yourself smothered by steady builds of almost Eastern menace (\u2018Fistful Of Hate\u2019) before those red-hot surges of thick, furnace blasts, all delivered without the macho cheesiness of Manowar. Instead, Ross and company conjure up serious metal yet emotive magic (\u2018Faith Of The Fallen\u2019) and serious thinking man\u2019s galloping grooves, like with the denim \u2018n\u2019 leather clad \u2018Circle Of Damnation\u2019.<\/p>\n

By Blood Sworn<\/em> is a pure modern metal release boasting enough heat to cause a severe tan.<\/p>\n

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

ROSS THE BOSSBy Blood Sworn AFM (2018)Rating: 8.5\/10 He\u2019s back! Mr. Ross Friedman, better known as Ross The Boss, should be a name familiar with many a metalhead, but if you\u2019ve been living on another planet then let me just quickly mention how the guitarist bolstered up the armoury of macho metallers Manowar after appearing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,3942],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-ross-the-boss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68355","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=68355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68357,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68355\/revisions\/68357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}