Here’s where the Tardy Brothers are on the loose and practically write killer songs that would never find a place in any Obituary album. So in order to avoid sounding monotonous in the future and maybe also from an artistic point of view, John and Donald decided to collaborate with different guest artists/friends in every album. In “Bloodline” the guest musicians are Ralph Santolla and Jerry Tidwell (the first guitarist of Obituary when in fact the band’s name was Executioner).

The main influence is Obituary’s terrific, groovy, pure old school death metal from Florida-as expected- but also very Pantera-like. Donald’s blast beating sounds like Vinnie Paul’s while the numerous guitar breaks remind me of Dimebag Darrel’s style. Needless to say that Ralph Santolla was free to solo almost non-stop.

A flawless album that never gets any boring and most important it is very direct. Songs like “Deep Down”, “Fates Call”, Eternal Lies” and  “Scream Descendent” are real killers.  Even the atmospheric/instrumental “Wicked” sounds great.

Foteini Paschalidou