CoC : Bloodstone - Hour of the Gate : Review

Bloodstone - _Hour of the Gate_
(Burn Records, 1996)
by: Brian Meloon (5 out of 10)

This is pretty typical melodic death metal. It was dubbed "death/black," but I see little black metal influence at all. They do have a fair amount of black metal-like single note line melodies, but they are played in a death metal fashion. In any case, they're more closely related to Morbid Angel than Dissection. In fact, their main sound reminds me of a more melodic Morbid Angel, perhaps like _Blessed Are the Sick_ meets _The Karelian Isthmus_. I can't say that it's really bad, but these guys aren't really too professional about what they do, and it shows. The music is a little sloppy, though not grossly incompetent. Their main problem is just that the music isn't that interesting. It's all pretty standard stuff that's been done before, and done better. It's unfortunate to note that the last three songs (which are older) are actually longer and more interesting than the newer songs. That doesn't bode well for their future. I'd avoid this unless you're a death metal fanatic.

(article published 11/10/1996)