by Dawn Passerini

Blood of the Gods ‘The Shadow Before’

Entombed, that’s the recurring idea banging around in my mind when I first hear ‘Earthborne’ from Blood of the Gods. It’s a hell of an album opener. A slow build up to huge guitars, pounding drums driving the song and deep, guttural vocals. This grabs my attention. This is death metal done right. Not to be saddled with preconceived notions of genre, there are elements of doom and black metal adding texture to songs on ‘The Shadow Before’. The sparse intro to ‘Haunted Legacy’ serves as a stark contrast to the crushing elements in the song. I really like the doomed out closer ‘Cloak of Sorrow’. It’s heavy as fuck. As a whole, the songs are well structured with all the elements and riffs melding together making for great tunes. All too often, despairing genres are thrown together with a lack of cohesiveness. Thankfully, this is not the case with ‘The Shadow Before’. This album is not full of jittery, angular pieces or a sampler of what the cool genre in metal is. It’s toss your beer and bang your head goodness. Blood of the Gods take death metal back.

Purchase the digital download of Blood of the Gods ‘The Shadow Before’ here: http://obscenitycultrecords.bandcamp.com/

CDs available at shows or by mail here:
http://obscenitycultrecords.bigcartel.com/