Review: 02.14.2008
BY BLOOD ALONE
Seas of Blood
Jericho Hill Records
Despite the self promotion, I would not call this group a metal band, and I am not too sure I would call them progressive either (whatever that might mean). They don’t readily fit into any storebought category. They do remind me of sundry darkling bands of the 60s and early 70s – albeit with considerable evolution in the musical skills department – who would show up at rock festivals and love-ins and do things like a tarot reading on the audience or an attempt to conjure real demons on stage via a black mass. The original female fronted Black Sabbath was one of these, from a time before Ozzy and the real Black Sabbath. I saw them do exactly that, an attempted demon raising, live on British TV: pentagrams, magic circles, cauldron, the whole nine yards. It was an unsuccessful attempt.
The problem with most of those bands is that they sucked out loud artistically and were more about witchcraft than music. The best of them were poor knockoffs of Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver, et al, which is probably why BBA inclines my ear to that aura, sans the suckitude. Cruella, at times, comes off quite a bit like Grace Slick in her heyday; the potent vocal authority and that ability to come howling right at you on the crest of a musical crescendo. The group also makes excellent use of the cathedral organ sound that many witchwave bands of yore merely affected.
So, is By Blood Alone any good... er... bad? Well, Cruella goes after beauty via melodic invention and, more often than not, snares her prize. Listen to “Nidhogg” a few times and then try to get it out of your head for the rest of the day. “Deny Yourself” is another such track. The band is tight, with well crafted stops and unexpected twists to the deftly plotted song structures. Guitar, bass, and drums form a solid rhythm section and also indulge in crafty interplay with the keyboards. The songs aren’t all the same, featuring subject matter that varies from sick to sardonically wicked to heart wrenching...with a forthright lyric style that is engaging in its directness.
I just can’t decide if Seas of Blood is a delicious anomaly or a bold new voice in the arcana nouveau side of the underrock. Time for me to give “Nidhogg” yet another replay.
-Andrew Fenner-