Bloodletter is a thrash metal band from the USA formed in 2012, releasing three albums to date – ‘Under The Dark Mark’ (2018), ‘Funeral Hymns’ (2020), and ‘A Different Kind Of Hell’ (2023).
Razor-sharp riffs, blistering speed and an immense head-bang ability signal the return of American thrashers Bloodletter with an array of songs hotter than the sun! The band’s new album is both a thrashfest and a speedfest, with every song on offer delivered at a neck-breaking pace! Right from the off, the band pulls no punches, ‘A Different Kind Of Hell’ ferociously exploding into life with ‘The Howling Dead’. Moving faster than the speed of light, ‘The Howling Dead’ is a devastating thrasher, wreaking havoc wherever it may roam! I say roam, but have you ever seen a tornado roam? Bloodletter are a ferocious force of nature, a non-stop whirlwind of all-out thrash metal, ‘Blood Is Life’ taking the pace of the album to new heights, the band ignoring speed limits, stop signs and the local police with their enforcement cameras! The band are on a mission – a mission to deliver high-speed thrash. And after just two songs, they’re well on their way to success!
Every song on the album clocks in at under four minutes in length, some less than three! Bloodletter don’t allow anyone the time to relax and take a breath, the album roaring on with the unforgiving ‘Bound & Ravaged’ – wielding devastation with tremendous force! The album’s speed has increased song by song since it began – and we’re only three songs in! I dread to think what speed is still to come – but I’m going to fucking love it! I am a metalhead through and through, and the faster the better as far as I’m concerned. So come on Bloodletter – hit me! And hit me they do, ‘From Hell They Came’ forging a ferocious path across the land, destroying towns and cities with an immense level of brutality! The devastation the band leaves in their wake is phenomenal, a flattened wilderness where only metal survives! ‘Cause metal will survive anything, it’s one of the strongest forms of life on the planet, highly infectious and fucking gorgeous! And with bands like Bloodletter around, the future of metal is in very safe hands. And with absolutely no sign of the album slowing down, ‘The Last Tomb’ is a raging rampage of all-out thrash, the level of headbang ability shooting through the fucking roof! Mosh pits all over the world are gonna be going crazy for ‘A Different Kind Of Hell’, with every single metalhead violently rocking their head back and forth.
The pace of the album is just breathtaking – don’t Bloodletter know what brakes are for? Apparently not – the band powering on with yet another speedster, ‘His Will Be Done,’ hurtling on at high velocity! I tell ya, there’s going to be some sore necks in the morning. The amount of head-banging required for this album is double the normal level. For the speed at which ‘A Different Kind Of Hell’ is delivered, simply demands extra effort! So be sure to warm up properly, because I wouldn’t want you to suffer any kind of injury! At just one minute forty seconds in length, ‘Obsidian Offering’ is the shortest song on offer. Yet, it still possesses the incredible pace and intensity of the album so far – the band not ceasing their phenomenal thrash metal attack. An attack that rumbles on with ‘To Darkness Damned’, flattening anything and everything standing in its way! The band really is steam-rolling everyone. No single person is safe from the band’s unrelenting, unforgiving tsunami of thrash.
And with only three songs remaining, ‘A Different Kind Of Hell’ remains as intense a listen as it was when it began, ‘Lord Of Pain’ the next speedy thrasher to bang heads hard! The jaw-dropping pace is incredible, totally matched by the album’s high-head-bang ability and ferocious attitude. Has Bloodletter just delivered the best thrash metal album of the year? Quite possibly! And whoa – mellowness! Unheard of so far, the band floating ‘What Lies Beneath’ in on the crest of a cloud, breaking out into a barrage of brutality from the forty-second mark! And as the final song approaches, Bloodletter has produced some of the best thrash metal I’ve heard all year, and I can assure you I’ve heard a fucking lot! The pace has been stunning, the intensity is superb, the band ending their third album as it began – with a ferocious barrage of savagery courtesy of ‘Flesh Turned To Ash’. And if you’re looking for an album to blow your mind and give your neck a bloody good workout, I highly recommend ‘A Different Kind Of Hell’.
Overall, a high-speed roller coaster of ferocious thrash metal, all delivered at a phenomenal pace with tonnes of head-bang ability.
TRACKLIST
The Howling Dead
Blood Is Life
Bound & Ravaged
From Hell They Came
The Last Tomb
His Will Be Done
Obsidian Offering
To Darkness Damned
Lord Of Pain
What Lies Beneath
Flesh Turned To Ash
Bloodletter: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: Wise Blood Records
Category: Album
Country: USA
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
