Monday 14 May 2018

Blissful Stream - Dead Religious EP


Labels: Self-Released/Medusa Crush Recordings
Formats: Tape/Digital
Release Date: 03 Mar 2018

Tracklist:

1. Downfall
2. Into The Abyss
3. Dead Religious
4. Black Ships

Doom metal has always dragged itself up from the darkest of places. While it has been long considered that doom metal originated here in the UK thanks to Black Sabbath, it's DNA has been gathered up and spliced via many countries from around the world since. One-man doom band Blissful Stream is from Hägersten in Sweden and "Dead Religious" is the band's third release, following the "Ascending Demons" EP from 2016 and the split with Lightsabres that followed latest year. "Dead Religious" was originally self-released but will be getting a limited tape release via Medusa Crush Recordings.

I’ve been allowing myself a bit more social/me time of late and have been a quieter on the blog front, which is why reviews haven’t been flowing as frequently. Sometimes that little break is good though as it allows me time to refresh and for the excitement to build again. Like the excitement I feel when pressing play on “Dead Religious”. It feels very much like Blissful Stream is a doom band from the old-school end of things. No lengthy 10+ minute songs but still enough gloom and groove to remind you of the band’s persuasion. Opener Downfall is certainly a fine example of this. It’s instrumental for the most part but unlike a lot of solo recordings, it doesn’t sound like it’s lacking put it that way. Into The Abyss is an up-tempo slab of doom that features more than just a hint of traditional metal and thrash. Martin Sällström’s vocals more than match the urgency of the song, reminding me of a few of the Swedish greats along the way. 

The title-track’s opening guitar riffs remind me of classic Westerns. The song itself again is groovy and loud. The traditional metal/hard rock influence is more evident here too and it’s sounds like Martin was there at the time that the sub-genres started and isn’t just aping them to sound relevant. EP closer Black Ships is slightly more stripped back and the fact that the lyrics are audible make it all slightly more approachable for those that maybe haven’t ventured into the true underground depths yet. That’s not doing it a disservice though, as it’s a cracking song and it rounds out an EP that ticks all the boxes. There no pretence here, it’s just pure heavy metal worship and that’s fine with me. Definitely give Blissful Stream your attention.

You can stream and purchase "Dead Religious" digitally from Blissful Stream below:-




Keep an eye out on Blissful Stream's page above or Medusa Crush's page below for news on that tape release.

No comments:

Post a Comment