Album review : BLOODBOUND – The Tales Of Nosferatu – Two Decades Of Blood (CD and DVD)

AFM Records [Release date : 19.04.24]

It was 20 years ago today that Swedish keyboard player Fredrik Bergh and guitarist Tomas Olsson jumped the genre ship from AOR to Power Metal.

They left behind popular melodic rock band, Street Talk, to found new kids on the heavy metal block, Bloodbound. The transition could not have been smoother.

The debut album, Nosferatu (2005), saw them stake a groundshaking claim to a sizeable chunk of Power Metal territory. The birth of that new band is being celebrated here.

The Tales Of Nosferatu – Two Decades Of Blood is a Live album, a CD and DVD Blu-ray package, a document in sound of the band’s acclaimed set at the Masters Of Rock Festival last year.

The transition was not without its problems of course, creating a sound from scratch is never easy. It took a few albums before the band truly found its metier. Consequently, 9 of the 13 tracks come from the band’s 4 most recent albums, showcasing the memorably melodic Power Metal we now take for granted.

The sound of the Festival’s heavy metal multitude initially seems detached from the music being played onstage. But it’s just a matter of tuning in, as moments later a Mexican wave of noise rolls through the crowd in a delayed action frenzy of enthusiasm.

Heads down, hi speed Power Metal anthems abound, all seemingly cut from the same richly textured cloth. ‘Tales From The North’, ‘Slayer Of Kings’ and ‘Drink With The Gods’ mix celtic flavours with adrenalised, “foot on the monitor” metal, vocalising the myth and mystery at the core of Viking Metal.

The band’s sideways move into medieval fantasy metal is signalled by ‘The Warlocks Trail’, from Rise Of The Dragon Empire (2019), and ‘Battle In The Sky’, from War Of Dragons (2017).

There’s clear connection there with the hugely popular books and TV series, “Game Of Thrones”. Commercial opportunism you might think, and why not?

And let’s face it, the band has the crowd in the palm of its hand: it’s loving it, enjoying every moment, applauding every move, belting out every chorus. Having fun. That’s the point. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)