Third album from a bunch of Chicago thrashers, apparently. Not having heard of them previously, I kind of take that on faith as I hit play and ‘The Howling Dead’ scampers out of the gate. It’s a nifty little opening with pacey riff, if a little curiously light, nice drumming and reasonable raw vocals. The lead break is fine too; melodic and racing like some epic power metal band. And there’s the rub; despite the pace it has more speed to it than thrash. Not a problem, usually I prefer that so there you go.

So ‘Blood is Life’ has the same pace and feel as the opener and by this point I’ve stopped looking for the thrash beyond the vocals as this feels simply like nicely pacey highly melodic heavy metal to me with a little nod to the power. None of which is a problem; we just want good music and songs regardless of random subgenres don’t we?

It is curiously light though; it’s certainly not Hellripper territory and if not for the vocals I’ve heard Sonata Arctica songs as fast as this (Ok, unfair, it’s heavier than that and there’s a nice absence of keyboards too…). But it still must be said that the underlying riffs have no real extra weight to them and a curious absence of real aggression in anything but the vocals amplifies this. Maybe it’s the production (the bass does seem a little lost here) or maybe it’s exactly what the band intended but if you’re looking for the black and death thrash mentioned in the PR keep on walking… One thing they do stick to is keeping the songs short and snappy. Everything here is under four minutes and most easily within the three minute. That shows real discipline and that also, it must be said shows in the playing. Everything is neat and crisp; the lead breaks are epic, the drumming tight, the vocals on cue. So a decent band too.

The ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop moment’. Yeah Bloodletter have clearly got the musical performance chops particularly in the guitar department, but there’s a big issue with this album for me. Simply put by the time I’m halfway through A Different Kind Of Hell, I can’t honestly remember a single song. The sad thing is that this doesn’t change on the fourth play-through, or the fifth. It sounds terrible of me I know, but every song is a similar pace and mostly is a race to the guitar breaks. There’s no hooks here in the song-writing, no refrains to take home and with music this short and direct you’d expect that. I mean some bands specialise in slowly winding up the tension and putting you through an hour of pain (hi Khanate), some drag you into their own world and others just hit you with memorable hook after hook. This simply doesn’t for me. Imagine a somewhat gentle version of Three Inches Of Blood’s classic ‘Advance And Vanquish’ without those ludicrously catchy choruses and lines and you’re not far off the ballpark.

It’s a true shame as this reeks of determination and dyed in the wool honest love of metal. But without the sharpness in the song-writing that they have in the playing it all just kind of fades into the distance for me, sorry.

Worth a look though if you like fast melodic metal as you may well disagree.

(5/10 Gizmo)

https://www.facebook.com/bloodlettermetal

https://bloodlettermetal.bandcamp.com/album/a-different-kind-of-hell