And so, to the dawn of a new, freshly minted year, a year full of optimism for better things, horizons stretch into the endless distance full of new opportunities, experiences, and dreams. As we enter 2021 off the back of what can only be described as a shit show of a 2020, we’re all looking for things to look forward to as January lays ahead of us like a puddle of freshly passed dog shite. Which brings us to Sweden’s Bloodtrust with their debut album ‘In Blood We Trust’ promising that said debut will (and I’m not making this up) according to the accompanying PR notes –

‘The truth is that BTHC will floor you. It will shake you to your core. You will feel like a car ran you over, and that you want it to happen again.’

Now, I know what you’re thinking…’Get off that sly, smirking, sneaky, back stabbing horse you’ve ridden in on and fuck off’….and I would be inclined to agree with you. To firstly sneer and then to take the piss out of what is obviously a new band’s one and only chance to shout our loud and proclaim themselves as the second coming of Jesus is, in equal measures, unkind, mean spirited and lazy. I agree, but sometimes you must question the quality, relevance and need for this type of queasy, sick inducing accoutrements that go out into the wider world and speak on behalf of bands. Maybe it is naivety or maybe the band are hoping that the music will speak for itself despite the lack of quality control of the press side of the house? Whatever. But by making such outlandish and frankly clumsy attempts to big themselves up, it already puts this reviewer in a bad mood and frankly has me sharpening my knives whilst licking my lips as I pick up the scent of a kill.

Despite bad choices from a non-musical perspective, that are not the band’s fault per se (see I’m being generous here) onto the music, which is why we’re all here right? First impressions is that it’s not bad (how’s that for an in-depth precis?) and I think I might have sussed out why this album immediately starts to resonate with me. Every single song on here seems to connect somehow and remind me of another band (often several bands from verse, chorus, bridge, middle eight and outro). But it’s an odd thing that I can’t quite put my finger on what other bands this reminds me of. There are the vocals, which are very firmly in the traditional Hardcore vein (think Sick Of It All, Agnostic Front…the usual suspects) with gang styled refrains every ten bars but it’s not that. There’s the galloping choruses which again recall traditional Hardcore bands and that in itself is no bad thing as long as it isn’t a rehashed pastiche of a double disc compilation of CBGB’s greatest hits, and to be fair to the band, they succeed in creating something that’s more than a cover version. It adds a little of the Swedes themselves and manages to create something a little different as it melds it’s Hardcore sensibilities onto a bedrock of choppy metal riffs that veer off into metalcore territories before returning to safer Hardcore territories by song end.

Then it strikes me where I have heard some of this before, but you will have to bear with me. There is more than a hint of disgraced Welsh Metal/Indie chart darlings Lostprophets in some of the song compositions as well as what is a luxuriant production and mix which belies the relative obscurity that Bloodtrust originate from. I know that this comparison seems slightly leftfield considering both the awful circumstances that blew LP apart , coupled with Bloodtrust’s Hardcore origins but I think it’s this clever mix of metal and HC that seems to dissolve nicely on my pallet that recalls the aforementioned comparison. There is nothing hugely original on show here BUT it’s all done with enough skill, love, effort and talent, that you’ll forgive the over reliance of some very familiar genre tropes here and there. I would encourage you all to sit back and enjoy what is a hugely competent and enjoyable debut effort especially since it was written and recorded within two months. It will be interesting to see what they come out with next.

(7/10 Nick Griffiths)

https://www.facebook.com/bloodtrusthc

https://peopleofpunkrock.bandcamp.com/album/in-blood-we-trust