Following up to their sophomore (their full length debut) album, Seas Of Blood, is an album that shows the band evolving entitled Thunderbirds. This album was released in the early part of 2011. When I heard about it and that I was going to be sent a copy, I was hoping they evolve, which as previously sated, they did.
Now for some introductions on the line-up of the band for this album. Cruella (vocals), John Graveside (guitar), Runtt (drums), Jack Doran (bass) and Jenny Williamson (keyboards). Together these five forge on with their new release, Thunderbirds.
Opening the album is “Drive All Night” (9:05), a bombastic song that starts with a short drum solo. This is a great epic song that is perfect soundtrack for those that have long commutes. This is probably a great way to start off a live set.
Then “Night Terrors” (6:55) has a slightly mellower starting but it soon picks up and is a fantastic track about nightmares (I hope I got that right). This is one of my favorite songs of the band and this album.
Next up is the first long song of the album, “I Bleed” (10:04), which is probably the band’s most progressive sounding song of the album. In my opinion, this is how epic sounding progressive metal should sound like.
“Having Tea” (5:25) is an odd title to see on a progressive metal album but never judge a song by it’s name or you might be missing out on something. The instrumentation reminds me of Rush’s work on the both Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures but with a female singer, of course. This is another of my favorites off the album.
“Stalking” (6:59) starts out with acoustic guitars, repetitive drum beats and about 1:18 in, the electric guitars are blazing. This is one of their more accessible songs while having something extra that typical accessible bands in this genre don’t have, integrity.
“Thunderbirds” (10:03) is the other long song on the album, which on whole isn’t as dark sounding yet not “happy” sounding either. Around the 5:30 mark there’s an homage to the song Black Sabbath. This is another of my favorites off the album.
“Misfit” (7:48) is the most gothic sounding on the album and a perfect way to end a wonderful album (in my opinion). After about a 2 minute intro, the vocals comes in. There’s such a beautiful darkness to this song.
So if you’re into progressive metal bands with a gothic twist, then you should look no further than By Blood Alone’s 2011 album, Thunderbirds. This if far above other bands in the genre. They are in a league of their own, simply because of their integrity to create music that is creative yet fun to listen to. So I would highly recommend this to both those that are progressive metal fans as well as those that are into gothic metal. Best of both worlds.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on May 25th, 2011
