Blód
On January 11, French sludge/doom outfit Blód released their self-titled album, a collection of nine-tracks chock-full of coagulated density.
Blód
Made up of Ulrich Wegrich (guitars, bass, programming) and Anna Wegrich (vocals, bass), Blód’s dread-filled sound is both hypnotic, gravitational, and pulverizing.
“Spektrs,” the album’s initial track, rides heavy, viscous guitars topped by luminous keening filaments, and then transitions into driving dynamics suggestive of Slipknot, only gooier and devoid of all the extraneous sound effects. Anna’s dreamy, edgy voice presses through the massive guitars with piercing, ghostly timbres, infusing the lyrics with eerie transport.
Subjectively, the best tracks on the album include “Tombstone,” rife with hefty chugging guitars accompanied by a strident droning tone, adding glaring intensity. The ferociously fat bassline and Jovian thump of the drums give the rhythm palpable cadence. Wailing, tormented vocals, sometimes snarling, while at other times gossamer and melodic, imbue the lyrics with blistering serrated timbres.
The final track, “Little Death,” discharges afflicting momentum, rolling and rumbling on concentrated clots of surging opaque hues.
“Elysium” features a spine-chilling intro of uncanny emanations flowing into boiling guitars full of black foaming relishes atop a measured rhythm. Anna’s elongated tones, almost Celtic in nature, infuse the lyrics with deliciously tarnished surface colors. The steady throb of the bassline juxtaposed against the buzzsaw guitars laces the harmonics with dual savors, one from the abyss, the other exuding potent metallic colors.
“Spill Ur Pain” opens on teeter-tottering guitars, suppurating painful flavors on industrial surfaces. Dark and ominous, Anna’s voice assumes mysterious intonations, almost chant-like, as well as grimacing.
Seductively massive guitars fill “Tentacles” with grasping energy, unrelenting and secretive, as Anna’s voice extends to the forefront, taking on a saturating tenacity, simultaneously exaggerated yet cool and minimal. The final track, “Little Death,” discharges afflicting momentum, rolling and rumbling on concentrated clots of surging opaque hues.
Blód blends wickedly wraithlike vocals, crushing rhythms, and tremendously titanic guitars, diffusing black rage, into wonderfully brutal doom.
