Review: “As Oceans Rise” by BloodBlind

Hailing from Helsinki Finland and running on themes of anger, anxiety and pain, Groove Metal quintet BloodBlind will be celebrating their 10th anniversary in 2025. Over the course of almost a decade they’ve put the World to rights with a quartet of extended plays, their latest burnt offering “As Oceans Rise” opening a new chapter with former Payload drummer Sami Markula joining the ranks. Original bassist Janne Saksola (ex-Rottendawn, Terra±Dawn) and vocalist Tommi Kokko remain ever present while axe wielding duo Marko Lundahl (Korpsesoturi) and Joni Halmetoja (ex-Rottendawn, Terra±Dawn) arrived in 2020. Next year will see the arrival of a debut full length album, so what does it’s precursor sound like?

Recorded, produced and mixed by Samuel Immonen before mastering by Lawrence Mackrory (High Parasite, Darkened, Katatonia), “As Oceans Rise” has a slight thematic shift from the previous works of BloodBlind as they focus on destruction, despair and frustration in their cryptic writings. That doesn’t slow the pace any however as the crunchy Groove Metal of “Brick By Brick” slaps harder than a woman scorned. Whenever anyone mentions Groove Metal, people always think of Pantera and while they are an obvious influence, Kokko’s vocals are harsh and the riffs have a distinctive flavour of their own. Markula makes his mark with a pummelling first performance, setting the standard high from the very start. Introducing a couple of death growled phrasings “Empty Eyes” is a bit more of a punishment beating with more vocal diversity in the unclean register while a tasteful extended solo is a nice touch. Unlike Zakk Wylde’s performances it’s not over exuberant but instead perfectly in keeping with its surroundings so as not to seal the show from the rhythmic aggression.

Slick lead guitars usher in the urgent title track before a bloodcurdling roar from Kokko, his almost unhinged performance here arguably the finest of this collection. The riffs transcend into Traditional Heavy Metal in the second half, making the track ideal for a Biker Pub juke box and best served with a pint of the finest Ale the establishment has to offer. The only thing preventing that from happening being the harsh nature of the vocals but there is zero chance of BloodBlind offering up any clean vocals any time soon and that is a thing of beauty. Reverting to more of a Death Thrash orientation “Nightmare Cult” punches hard with flavours of Entombed as it exposes the weak, the buzzsaw guitars grinding at the cerebral cortex. Prime fodder for the mosh pit, this one entices you in with a high energy output that can put a hole in your chest before another tasteful solo. It’s fair to say that they saved the best to last so make sure you stick around for it because its worth its weight in Gold [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Brick By Brick
2. Empty Eyes
3. As Oceans Rise
4. Nightmare Cult

“As Oceans Rise” by BloodBlind is out 24th October 2024