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! ! ! ! !
Artist......: Written in Blood
Album.......: Written in Blood
Year........: 2022
Genre.......: Death Metal
Type........: Album
Label.......: Trollzorn Records
Language....: English
Source......: WEB/FLAC (24bit)
Quality.....: 1732kbps / 44.1 kHz / Stereo
Tracks......: 9 tracks
Playtime....: 00:38:27
Size........: 476.8 MiB
R.Date......: 2026-10-09
S.Date......: 2022-12-02
Url.........: https://open.qobuz.com/album/j1q7r3it82tlc
01. Slithering Snakes 5:08
02. Written in Blood 3:36
03. Germanic 4:18
04. Wilde Jacht 4:07
05. Ghouls of the Forest 3:53
06. Thrown Into the Bog 5:11
07. Witte Wieven 4:41
08. Heathens We Are 4:03
09. Return of the Ancient 3:32
Written In Blood is a new Dutch Death Metal band
featuring ex-Vortex and ex-Mandator drummer Jos Eggens
and, most prominently, ex-God Dethroned bassist Bert
'Beef' Hoving. When I first got into extreme metal,
around the end of the 90's, I really loved God Dethroned
and I was particularly disappointed that Beef decided to
leave the band because I always loved his stage
presence. In the years that followed I quite regularly
looked to see if he had anything new going on, but it
wasn't until recently that I found out that he had
started a new band, which became Written In Blood.
Let's first state that Written In Blood has very little
to do musically with God Dethroned or Mandator and,
needless to say, it bears even less resemblances with
Vortex. The only thing that might vaguely remind of God
Dethroned are the strong and well-played melodies that
are woven throughout the whole album. But other than
that, Written In Blood certainly sounds and feels like
an entity of its own. Written In Blood leans on solid
and diverse song writing that has some interesting tempo
changes, great use of melody as well a strong sense for
atmosphere. The latter shines through the best in the
grand closing epic, which is definitely a surprisingly
versatile piece that has completely silent parts and has
a strong doomy ambiance. Other than that, Bert's
outstanding vocal delivery is adding to the diverse
character of the music, with a vocal range going from
spoken words, some standard growl as well as an almost
Black Metal or Gothenburg-styled snarl. The music as a
whole sounds quite Swedish in nature, not in the
massively sounding Entombed/Dismember sort of fashion,
but something that combines At The Gates, Hypocrisy and
maybe even very early Amon Amarth. To the latter Written
In Blood's heathen theme also seems to fit perfectly -
listen to 'Heathens We Are' for instance, an Amon Amarth
echo is hard to deny.
If you are looking for a throughout melodic Death Metal
album that has lots of diversity to offer as well as a
crisp and punch sound, Written In Blood's debut album
might be an album to consider. It might not push any
boundaries or cause a musical revolution, but then
again, I am quite sure that Written In Blood never
intended to do that anyway. This is just an honest and
solid piece of Melodic Death Metal. Oh, and glad that
Beef is back on the front.