Review by Brexaul on May 29, 2024.

A new power metal band formed by some well known names in the scene is always interesting right? "Very fast and technical, sometimes even brutal, but also very melodic and catchy: Extreme Power Metal!" is how the band describes their music, and I must admit it’s not too far from the truth.

Bloodorn plays a Dragonforce type power metal, much better than current Dragonforce, but with all the shortcomings of the one-trick ponies. Songs are for the most part super-fast with very little variety or staying power after the initial “wow – this is FAST” impression. Sure, there is a lot of shredding involved and everyone is a highly competent player, but we were promised “catchy and melodic”, and the sheer machine gun performance doesn’t let either of those aspects to fully come in the foreground. I’m sure there will be a lot of “make power metal fast again” afficionados that will see no problem with it, but I don’t find the appeal on an album with eight tracks being “Through Fire and Flames”.

My biggest problem with this album though, is that it’s noisy as hell. Everything is chaos. It’s one of the rare moments that the cover perfectly describes the content. The mix suffers from plastic overproduced drums, which hinder the tremendous performance of Michael Brush to a point where you think everything is programmed. The bass of Francesco Saverio Ferraro is there, but buried under the massive wall of sound. Nils Courbaron can shred his ass off and the solos are a masterclass of technique, but I rarely found myself rewinding to appreciate a melody or a phrase. Mike Livas should take a chill pill and get some control of his performance. He gets so invested in the quest for the aggressive ferocity they promised to deliver, that his performance is borderline comedically over the top at times. That’s not to say he has an impressive set of pipes, but listening to his performance (and honestly, to the whole band) feels like you’re watching a boiler building up pressure to the point of explosion. Even in their more (scarce unfortunately) mellow moments, you just can’t catch a breath. Jesus Christ, let off some steam Bennett!!

I may have been more critical than usual, but fear not, the album is not without its redeeming qualities. There are a handful of songs that are a great display of “modern” aggressive power metal, like 'Rise Up Again' or 'Forging The Future'. I particularly enjoyed 'Six Wounded Wolves' which offers a slight change of pace and has the band experimenting with some much-needed respite, even Mike Livas tries his hand (throat?) to some more operatic vocals that are a most welcome change of pace. Nils offers some great riffs which is something power metal is missing in general, and Livas hits some impossible notes effortlessly, being possessed by the Gods of power metal. When everything falls into place, you get a glimpse of what could be, and it’s promising.

The Ghost cover ironically offers what most of the album is missing, and that is some calmer moments. Even with the extreme makeover Bloodorn did, it still is much easier on the ears than the non-stop bludgeoning, and I suppose a smart way to each into fans of an entirely different scene.

Wrapping things up, Bloodorn makes a promise they don’t quite deliver, mostly due to the jumbled-up songwriting and their reliance on speed rather than substance. They are extremely well equipped on the technical side of things, but their song writing (and mixing) needs a significant amount of improvement if they want to go toe to toe with the big boys. We’re talking about a band that could potentially release something as impressive as Angra (which they cite as one of their main influences) but they have to understand that the strength of Angra is not their unmatched technical ability, but the ability to showcase that when it’s needed.

Rating: 7.1 out of 10

Review by Jack on April 14, 2002.

Cold, filthy and with indiscernible lyrics, what more could you ask for from a Norwegian ‘true black metal act? Not much more, Khold’s latest album in “Phantom” is short and direct, it delivers a quick, frosty jab to the guts and then retreats back into hiding. With only 9 songs and spanning only 33 minutes, Khold are clearly not around to waste a valuable hour of consumer listening time. Khold do they what they do, leaving absolutely shit all time for procrastination.

Make no mistake, folks, this is not your typical black metal ala Burzum and Darkthrone, there is so much melody and a unique identity in “Phantom” that one would swear Khold had been slaving away at the black metal caper for years and years, slowly perfecting their trademark groove with each new album. The reality is quite the opposite, Khold are only in their second album and already seem to be firing on pretty much all cylinders.

I have absolutely no idea in depth what the lyrics of “Phantom” cover, but from the translations of the Nordic song titles into English, one gets the feeling that there is a strong, deathly medieval theme concurrent through the bulk of “Phantom”. To further give off the theme of medieval witchcraft and superstition, vocalist Gard goes about his growls in a truly exceptional manner, perhaps possessing one of the most potent gargling, black metal roar/screams in the metal profession, I can’t praise his performance on “Phantom” enough.

My only real gripe with “Phantom” is that Khold seem to lose their way a little towards the end of the album, and don’t really have a complete arsenal at their disposal. ‘Ord I Flammer’ and ‘Vandring’ don’t really possess the song writing ability presented on the awesome track ‘Hekseformular I Vev’ and the opener, ‘Dodens Grode’ or ‘Death Crop’.

Bottom Line: “Phantom” is a worthy successor to “Masterpiss of Pain” and Khold are exploring some very interesting ideas. Maybe with a third album, Khold will rise even further and stand atop a bloody pillar with their victims adorned before them.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 8
Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 6.5
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.5 out of 10