Creatures of the Dark Realm

Sweden’s power metal sextet Bloodbound disappointed me in 2019. After the excellent Stormborn and War of Dragons they seemingly ran out of interesting hooks and riffs, as the keyboards played annoying, childish tunes that couldn’t convince me one bit. Rise of the Dragon Empire in short very much sucked and felt completely uninspired. Of course, you can’t expect a band that usually writes, records and releases a new album every two years to come up with revolutionary ideas, but ROTDE really hit rock bottom. Thankfully, Bloodbound are back with another great album that easily allows you to forget about its predecessor.

Creatures of the Dark Realm, as opposed to ROTDE, feels like a collection of new songs instead of leftovers from the previous albums. From the beginning until the end this is Bloodbound in optima forma, with happy-sounding choruses and a lot of double-bass drumming. War of Dragons already showed Bloodbound’s capability of writing relatively short yet action-packed tracks, but the band takes that kind of songwriting one step further here. “Ever Burning Flame”, for instance, has a perfect build-up with all the classic power metal elements you can think of. Major chords throughout the chorus, Patrik Selleby’s high-pitched vocals and the insane speed that power metal fans seem to love to death. I’ll admit, the intro is very cheesy but that’s another thing that has made Bloodbound big since In the Name of Metal (or maybe Unholy Cross, pretty much since Selleby joined). In fact, that cheesiness is what once made me fall in love with power metal.

Repetitiveness and cheesiness, however, are a dangerous combination and Bloodbound most probably know that too. “Eyes Come Alive” could’ve easily been another victim to said elements, but thanks to the powerful and exciting main riff and the perfectly timed solo it’s become an excellent power metal hymn. It’s exactly the kind of song the Bloodbound fan wants to hear from the band. The same goes for the up-tempo “Death Will Lead the Way”, with again a very clever chorus that stuck with me after only one listen. The song is another piece of evidence that Bloodbound is best at writing fast songs with choruses almost as happy as Freedom Call’s. The keyboard leads throughout several songs (“When Fate Is Calling” and “Face of Evil”) try to contribute to that positive tone but do quickly become bothersome. However, in general it feels like the band put a bit more time and effort into this new album and avoided the problems ROTDE faced. In other words, the lame keyboard intros have disappeared and the power has returned. Good!

COTDR is a pleasant ride, but definitely isn’t without its weaknesses. Eleven songs with the same kind of unadventurous power metal aren’t that easy to listen to repeatedly. I’d wish the band would once write a ballad of some sort to provide us as listeners with a moment of peace that might make the album slightly easier on the ears. The same perhaps goes for an epic closing track, which I’d love to hear once. However, just like Powerwolf and fellow-countrymen Sabaton, Bloodbound’s strength lies in compact and catchy tunes. The mention of Sabaton brings me to another problem of COTDR, because a large part of the material on here could’ve easily been found on a Sabaton record, although Bloodbound has always stuck with the classic power metal formula more than Sabaton. “March into War”, however, is a stomping Joakim Brodén song that should’ve been written by Sabaton. In fact, it has, in the shape of “The Royal Guard”.

In conclusion, Bloodbound’s latest offering shows that they’ve still got what it takes to write enjoyable and accessible happy power metal. Creatures of the Dark Realm is Bloodbound at their best and I can only imagine the fans of the band will enjoy this CD very, very much. I can include myself, as I’ve caught myself smiling at all the power metal cliches more than once. Let’s raise our swords, fight some goblins and dragons and leave our problems behind with one of the best power metal albums released in 2021 this far.

Highlights: “When Fate Is Calling”, “Death Will Lead the Way”, “Face of Evil”