Mandrake

Bloodbound – Unholy Cross Review

Bloodbound – Unholy Cross Review

When I first heard that super talented metal vocalist Urban Breed had left the excellent Tad Morose I was very unhappy. When he popped up in the strangely corpse painted but great classic metal band Bloodbound for their 2006 debut, I was happy again. Then he left, then he came back, and now he’s left yet again. C’mon man, what the hell are you doing? As the ever fickle Mr. Breed contemplates his career options, the boys in Bloodbound soldiered on without him and are set to release their fourth platter Unholy Cross. With vocals now being handled by Patrik Johnansson (Dawn of Silence), Unholy Cross finds Bloodbound bouncing back and forth between their usual classic metal sound and modern Euro-power metal similar to Edguy, Mystic Prophecy and Stratovarius. Gone is the slick blend of classic and modern metal they explored on 2009’s excellent Tabula Rasa and sadly, a lot of the overall excitement seems leeched from their sound this time as well. While still worthwhile, this is inferior to their earlier material, especially Tabula Rasa.