Part of the new breed of Polish musicians born, seemingly, to raise brutality to new heights and following in the proud tradition of Virgin Snatch, Frontside and Vader, Bloodwritten play a mechanically precise brand of blackened thrash that sounds like a monstrously malevolent Slayer with a death metal fixated vocalist (sort of ‘show no mercy’ meets ‘hell awaits’ played by Deicide) and guitarists who are only content if they can move their fingers over half the fret-board in any given riff.
Opening with the charmingly titled ‘whore’, Bloodwritten waste no time in engaging in subtlety, preferring to open the track with the sound of a shotgun cocking and firing. And it proves to be entirely apt, the following music is intelligently played, produced with a raw power and much like being on the business end of a deadly weapon. Riffs flash past with deadly accuracy, while the drums (which do perhaps miss out a touch in the production stakes) keep the whole thing moving at the sort of terrifying BPM that Metallica used to play with around the time of ‘fight fire with fire’. Speaking of fire fights, ‘drums of war’ opens with the sounds of the battle field before turning into a massive, storming thrash anthem complete with lengthy instrumental introduction and the vocals of the tormented damned. It’s all done in the most serious manner imaginable and the band play with an unshakeable confidence throughout that hints at many hours playing darkened venues filled with a faithful few black-clad fans before finally hitting pay dirt and getting the chance to unleash an album upon the world. Witness , for example, the massive, chugging breakdown that forms the heart of ‘Drums…’ and try not to bang your head and you’ll see why these purveyors of death should be high on your list of monthly purchases. Next up is ‘bullet overdose’, a pure thrashing beast that will appeal to fans of Evile and vintage Slayer and then ‘Zombie survival’ that explicitly exposes the bands love of horror movies and gore whilst slowing the music down to a malicious, ‘south of heaven’ style crawl to emphasise the slow motion horror of the subject matter.
Named like an Earache records sampler CD, ‘Thrashin’ fury’ appears next with the riffs thrown out at maximum speed and the vocals perched atop the whole thing lashing out with a near-white-hot fury and venom that strips the humanity and warmth from the tones and leaves them cold recalling the nihilistic savagery of early Satyricon set to the brutal metallic thunder of Slayer at their most aggressive. ‘Radiation’ packs a similar punch with the double kick-drums offering not an inch of ground and the guitars blazing like molten suns before ‘unleashed the holy’ comes crashing in with a riff begins as a mid-paced chug and ends as a body slamming blast of filth-laden speed. It probably goes without saying (but I’m nothing if not garrulous so I’ll say it anyway) that this is most certainly not music for everyone. There is a savagery at work here that will alienate the more casual thrash fan, but for those who like their music hard, heavy and torn straight from the gaping maw of hell, then Bloodwritten’s darkly unpleasant thrash-attack will sate your appetite in no time at all as ‘Return to Tortuga bay’ so perfectly demonstrates with its mammoth riffs and darkly atmospheric vocals. At just shy of two minutes ‘bestial devastation’ sees the band shift into near grind territory with a track that is vomited past your astonished ears before you even realise it’s happened and then the gargantuan closer of ‘watch the world burn’ (complete with cheeky nod to ‘and justice for all…’ era Metallica) brings an album to a close that is so heavy it should possibly be encased in lead and buried before it inflicts severe damage upon the continent.
Bloodwritten are a band who maintain the astonishing savagery of their material from start to finish. No concession is made to airplay or commercialism with the band preferring to revel in their technical ability and song writing nous than pander to the vague fripperies of success. As a result they have crafted an album that can stand in the company of its influences with its head held high and there is no doubting either the skill or the integrity of the band whose main aim seems to be to unleash the heaviest, most devastating thrash attack that they can. This is an awesome, brutal and powerful album that will stand tall in any metal collection and if there is any justice will see Bloodwritten become a hallowed name in the annals of metal.
