
Skin, flesh and blood!
-- Bleedskin --
06/11/2020
Stijn Daneels

Album genres:
■ | Death Metal |
Album artists:
■ | Anouk Debecq | Vocals |
■ | Céline Mazay | Guitars |
■ | Benjamin Lefèvre | Lead guitars |
■ | Rémy Adam | Bass |
■ | Julien Vanhees | Drums |
Review written by Stijn "Metal Shredder" Daneels.
[METAL SHREDDER REPORTING]
Bleedskin
is a band I’ve been following for a while and who I saw live during a very enjoyable
Judasfest 2019. Our friend Renald “Neptune Shredder” has been so nice to send
us over to Bleedskin’s bandcamp to check out the band’s first full-length
release, “Blood Reign.” And of course, we shred as much metal as possible,
especially when it comes from our own humble little country.
[SHREDDING BASICS]
“Blood Reign”
is the first album from the Belgian death metal band Bleedskin after they
debuted with a demo EP called “The Rotten One” in 2018 and like the aforementioned
EP, “Blood Reign” is an independent release.
The album
begins with “Perverted Feelings” a symphonic opening with various galloping
drum beats, pianos and chants. While this tune sounds relaxed at first, there
is a clear threatening undertone, which eventually builds up towards the album’s
single, “Eternal Hatred.” This song features grinding riffs, scorching bass,
blast beats and growling vocals. Typical death metal stuff, nothing more, but
certainly nothing less. The ferociousness continues with the follow-up, “Obsession,”
which speeds things up for one throat-ripping tune and the same goes for that
song’s own successor, “No One Will Hear You.”
The album’s
fifth track, “Schizophrenia” is slower and showcases Bleedskin’s more melodic
side while “Point of No Return” hits the gas hard once more. “Perversion of
Mankind” combines speed and melody as well as some breakdown-like riffs. “Silence
Is Your Only Way” puts high emphasis on blast beats, cackling guitars and
roaring vocals. Next up is “The Dead Sale” which features a multitude of raw
singing and adrenaline pumping beats, definitely mosh pit material right here. The
album’s penultimate track, “Innocent,” once again features a blend of speed and
melody and finally the track “Chaos Theory” makes the band explode one last
time with all their fury!
While Bleedskin
may be offering an enjoyable more-of-the-same death metal experience at first,
there are a couple of qualities that make them stand out to me. The first thing
is Anouck’s vocals, while a ton of death metal acts rely on grunting, growling
or shrieking, her voice feels more like simultaneous growling and shrieking. It
gives her vocals a unique kind of brutality, further emphasized by the band’s powerful,
groovy rhythms.
The second quality
are the many excellent guitar solos throughout the album. In each track either
Benjamin or Céline jam out some technical wizardry and I’m always a sucker for epic
guitar work. And aside from that the crunchy bass and fast-paced drums offer
all the other necessary ingredients to create a compelling death metal atmosphere.

[SHREDDING VISION]
The artwork
of “Blood Reign” features an image of hell, fire and brimstone with some small
details put throughout. Aside from the big skull there’s also the tail of a
rattlesnake, burning candles, teeth and wooden spikes. For me, the album’s
title and cover art feels like an homage to Slayer’s iconic “Reign In Blood”
album. Only thing missing are some goats.
As for the themes
on “Blood Reign,” well, it’s death metal’s usual set of joyful topics like
hatred, violence, mental illnesses, pain and despair. Hellish subjects with
hellish artwork and hellish tunes, an excellent cocktail, hell-made.
[SHARPEST SHREDS & BLUNTEST BLADES]
My preferred
tunes on “Blood Reign” include tracks like “Eternal Hatred,” “Schizophrenia”
both of which feature Bleedskin’s melodic side as well as tunes like “Obsession”
and “The Dead Sale,” for they show off the band’s faster and more aggressive side
and finally songs like “Innocent” and “Chaos Theory” who aim to combine both of
Bleedskin’s musical sides. Great stuff overall.
Any real
weak tracks? Not really, to be honest, although I hope to see an instrumental
track in future Bleedskin releases since the guitar work on this album is
splendid. That being said, I’ve really enjoyed this death metal serving, so I’m
now offering Bleedskin…
[SHREDDER’S SCORECARD]
8 slayers
out of 10. Taking the usual death metal ingredients and adding in guitar
technicality and female ferociousness not often seen in this subgenre,
Bleedskin’s first album offers all the blood and gore required for them to rip
and tear through hell and back! Here’s
the video for “Eternal Hatred!”