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Beastwars - Blood Becomes Fire Album Review
07 Apr 2013 // A review by Alistar3000
Beastwars’ debut album in 2011 was an impressive display of sludge that garnered them a lot of attention, so I was a little apprehensive when I found out that I would be reviewing the follow up, Blood Becomes Fire. Would it be as good? Would it show a progression in their sound, or just be more of the same?
Sure, I’d heard the first single from the album, Tower of Skulls, when it was released last year and thought it was a great track, but that didn’t necessarily mean that they could produce another whole album of great songs.
Only that’s just what they’ve done with Blood Becomes Fire. Right from opener Dune you can tell that the band have looked at their music and worked out how to push it further. The songs here are more intricate, less like a musical steamroller, which leads to a more interesting album.
There’s even a couple of mellower tracks (mellow being relative here of course); one of them, the closing track The Sleeper, might just be my new favourite Beastwars’ song – although it’s hard to pick a favourite from amongst the 10 tracks.
So it looks as though my fears were unfounded and Beastwars have once again delivered an album that is sure to attract a lot more praise while keeping their fans happy. I’ve struggled to stop listening to it since I got it and I’d safely call it my favourite local release in a long time.
Blood Becomes Fire
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About Beastwars
Two years on from their internationally acclaimed, self-titled debut, Beastwars return on 20 April 2013 with Blood Becomes Fire. The new album serves witness to the end of days, told through the eyes of a dying traveler from another time. It is a work inspired by eternal themes. "It's a reflection on mortality, death and disease. Sooner or later they come for all of us and we've all screamed to the gods for answers, not that they've ever come."
On Blood Becomes Fire Beastwars hammer the story home with concussive force. "It’s a heavy album, both sonically and lyrically, but what solidifies it are the really triumphant 'fuck yeah' riffs. To us, this music is like getting psyched up to go into battle. You could be at war with someone else or yourself.”
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