{"id":7817,"date":"2012-11-12T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T00:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=7817"},"modified":"2013-06-01T14:42:14","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T14:42:14","slug":"album-review-grand-supreme-blood-court-bow-down-before-the-blood-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-grand-supreme-blood-court-bow-down-before-the-blood-court\/","title":{"rendered":"GRAND SUPREME BLOOD COURT – Bow Down Before The Blood Court (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

GRAND SUPREME BLOOD COURT
Bow Down Before The Blood Court<\/strong><\/span>
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\nCentury Media (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Finally, a record that will hopefully shake the death metal genre to its foundations and wake it from its dormant state. With countless records emerging over the last few years that suggest a stale scene, and with too many \u201cbig\u201d bands sticking to a formulaic approach, Dutch deathsters Grand Supreme Blood Court have risen from the depths and torn down the walls with their monstrous debut.<\/p>\n

The band comprises of former Asphyx guitarist Eric Daniels and current Asphyx members, Martin van Drunen (vocals, Hail Of Bullets \/ ex-Pestilence), Alwin Zurr (guitar) and Bob Bagchus (drums), along with Theo van Eekelen (bass, Hail Of Bullets).<\/p>\n

Bow Down Before The Blood Court<\/em> is a mini-masterpiece, boasting 11 flesh-ripping tracks that give a big nod to the classic death metal scene of the late 80s and early 90s. The band are heavily influenced by the rip-roaring sounds of Obituary, Entombed, Possessed, Dismember and Pestilence, and that is how I would describe the record \u2013 a deadly mix of all those classic bands.<\/p>\n

The chainsaw guitars are very much in that old Swedish sound, with the riffs sounding loose and lethal, bringing to mind Entombed\u2019s legendary Left Hand Path<\/em> (1990) debut opus. The vocals are reminiscent of Obituary\u2019s John Tardy \u2013 which is no mean feat considering how unique his shredded vocal chords were, and still are.<\/p>\n

Produced in fine fashion, album opener \u2018All Rise\u2019 begins with an ominous bell toll before the buzz-saw guitars fade in and the band enter full throttle mode. The drums cascade and a distinctive groove is maintained throughout, lined with Martin van Drunen\u2019s hoarse vocal delivery. As he rasps, \u201cAll rise, raise your weapons\u201d<\/em>, that distinctive Obituary-buzz fills the speakers.<\/p>\n

Next up is the title track, featuring a staggering mid-tempo which drags its feet for almost a minute before the band hurtle into a steamroller thrash riff until the pace drops once again. The guitars on this record shine in their gritty groove, and accompanied by those frenzied drums, bass and harsh vocals, Grand Supreme Blood Court have a swaggering arrogance about them; something I\u2019ve not heard since those hazy days of the 80s when Death, Morbid Angel and the like infected our souls.<\/p>\n

The three-and-a-half minute \u2018There Shall Be No Acquittance\u2019 is equally horrifying; a brutal master class in European death metal that brings to mind the bleakness of Obscura in those fiendish vocals, while the band effortlessly shift between dense, chugging death-fuzz and a more brutal, speedier assault. \u2018Veredictum Sanguis\u2019 is another perfect example of that chainsaw chug injected with pacier moments. Grand Supreme Blood Court would no doubt have taken the early 90s by storm; I just hope that today they can be appreciated for taking the scene by the scruff of the neck.<\/p>\n

\u2018Behead The Defence\u2019 is a ferocious three-minute workout, with the vocals here taking on a Possessed-feel, but my favourite monstrosity has to be the five-minute \u2018Circus Of Mass Torment\u2019, which features some fantastic drumming from Bagchus, who provides an almost jarring backbeat to the suffocating, swampy guitars.<\/p>\n

\u2018Public Castration\u2019 is just as formidable, rising from the bloody pit on a doom-laden riff before heading full throttle into battle. \u2018Piled Up For The Scavengers\u2019 rips the flesh with great steamroller effect, before the 10-minute \u2018,,,And Thus The Billions Shall Burn\u2019 takes us into the darkness with its slow, ominous whine. It takes some four-minutes to get going, but as an album closer it is an epic skull crusher, with each instrument coming into its own until it slowly bleeds to death all over the place, leaving the listener in grotesque harmony.<\/p>\n

Grand Supreme Blood Court may not be around forever, but as a project goes this is a much needed kick up the arse for a genre that hasn\u2019t given us anything truly terrifying since those halcyon days. Ever since the early 90s, classic releases and original bands have been sporadic, but with Bow Down Before The Blood Court<\/em> Grand Supreme Blood Court have created a hideous beast we must worship in our masses.<\/p>\n

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

GRAND SUPREME BLOOD COURTBow Down Before The Blood Court Century Media (2012)Rating: 9\/10 Finally, a record that will hopefully shake the death metal genre to its foundations and wake it from its dormant state. With countless records emerging over the last few years that suggest a stale scene, and with too many \u201cbig\u201d bands sticking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,420],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-grand-supreme-blood-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817","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=7817"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12067,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7817\/revisions\/12067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}