BLOODY HELL – The Bloodening

There sure are many ways to make time pass by faster during the hard times of the pandemic. Those who are lucky enough to be able to work from home carry on with their jobs while others struggle 24/7. Some others resort to just letting the booze solve their problems. In many cases that option turns out to be a destructive one, but it looks like the right amount of booze combined with plenty of love and passion for Metal may result with an album the listening to may add some entertainment to the bleak days of lockdown. Here are the Finnish Rockers Bloody Hell with their new album The Bloodening – yes, the very band name should sound intriguing enough for everyone to want to take a closer look at these fellas.

Described as grumpy and unapologetic Metal, Bloody Hell certainly does live up to its name. These guys do not sound as if they cared what anyone might have to say about them. They just go ahead with their work and it sounds like they’re very much take it or leave it about it. An attitude someone like Lemmy himself would have approved of, no doubt about that. The Bloodening starts off with a song titled “Hangover Rider”. The intro might remind of those in such songs as “Last in Line” (Dio) or “Fight Fire with Fire” (Metallica). But the second part – played exclusively by the drums – comes in straight afterwards. It’s probably not quite as ass-kicking as the one in “Painkiller” by Judas Priest, but again: the guys at Bloody Hell are highly unlikely to care about that. Their music is a decent mixture of Heavy Metal with bits of Punk and no small amounts of alcoholic beverages. The singer definitely does sound like someone who might cite Udo Dirkschneider (ex-Accept) as one of their main influences, although if there’s anything he sounds like more then it’s someone who sold their soul for Rock’n’Roll and a fair amount of booze.

The sound of The Bloodening may be far from polished, but that does not prevent it from being 666% Metal. The song to follow is titled “Face in Hell” and it has a nice hint of Pantera to it. The production could be a bit fatter nonetheless. This concerns drums and bass mostly, especially as the Bloody Hell bassist sure has got some skills. One question that might arise while one is listening to “Face in Hell” is whether the guys at Bloody Hell, if they were somehow given €5000 to invest in their music, would they pay for a top quality studio or would they spend the money on some top quality booze in order to fuel their creativity and shape their Rock’n’Roll personalities even further. The latter sounds more likely, although there’s nothing wrong with that – it’s “All in the Name of Rock”, like Mötley Crüe said more than once.

Each song on The Bloodening is something different and that is to be praised. There are some things most of the songs have in common, such as really good guitar solos. Also, like said before, some of the bass lines are really good, despite the sound that unfortunately is a little bit disco. The songs “In the Night We Ride” and “Smoking” being tracks number 4 and 5 respectively are the best proofs that the bassist of Bloody Hell does anything but bum around. There are some proper crowd-pullers there too. The sixth track “What the Hell” certainly is one of them. Singing along to such lyrics as “What the hell?! Bloody hell!” sounds like a proper dose fun, it should do to everyone who has Metal run through their veins and loves being a part of that amazing community of Metal fans. Die-hard fans of Porcupine Tree (at least some of them) may not approve of Bloody Hell, but people who are genuine and love to have fun the Metal way – yes, they sure as hell will. And don’t forget the joker – in this instance the final, twelfth track titled “Kiesma (The Museum of Modern Art)”. It is quite different than the rest of the album, but bloody hell, it is a great way to finish it off!

To sum things up, The Bloodening is definitely something perfect to blast, whether the pandemic is ruling everyone’s life or not. It is also a great excuse to enjoy some rum or bourbon when it cannot be done in a company – because drinking to Metal, even by oneself, is not drinking, it is keeping oneself alive. As much as Metal nerds may disapprove of Bloody Hell, everyone who knows what Metal really is about won’t be disappointed. If the chaps at Bloody Hell ever decide to cover a song by a different band… then hopefully it is going to be “High Hopes” by Pink Floyd. Because no matter how off-his-face their singer is going to sound, there is no bloody way in hell he’s going to ruin it like the now former bassist of Nightwish did on quite a few occasions.