By: Anders

Posted: Aug 2, 2006

The American crossover act Bludgeon has returned upon our shores after quite a silent period of 4 years, since their second full length album release "Crucify The Priest", even though they have released a live DVD in the meantime. Though now they're back with the new full length "World Controlled" and as a three piece.

It doesn't take many tracks to discover that the band has taken a more hardcore approach to this album, and leaving the death metal influences a bit more dormant. Now we are getting an aggressive deal of thrashy riffs with a hardcore attitude, straight ahead and quite brutal at times. The compositions are well made and contain quite a few hooks, which makes much of the music memorable. Though most of the game is being played in the mid-paced range, with some upbeat shifts, though at times it seems like the music becomes a bit stale, quite a shame.

The guitar play isn't that inspired all the way through the album, we get the occasional good riff, though much of the guitar work has a scent of more classical thrash pieces in them, not an entirely bad thing, though the band has shown more than that in the past. The drumming is hitting it off and keeping the beats stable, there are some good breaks and fills, together with some solid footwork, an overall good performance. The vocals are a tormented and frustrated mix of the usual thrash scream and the straight out hardcore yelling, very fitting to the music and the overall atmosphere on the album.

The prior album and this one have both been produced by Joey DiMaio of Manowar fame. He has again done a good job, there is a good punch behind guitars and drums and the bottom of the sound is very heavy. Though there is a dry side to the sound, which isn't that fitting, and it kinda holds the energy back in some areas of the sound picture.

If you were into "Crucify The Priest" and generally enjoys crossover, this album will hit it off with you, as it showcases many of the treats of the genre, some solid guitar and drum work, a heavy and rumbling bass, which actually gets a lot of space, and roaring vocals. Though the album needs quite a few spins before opening up, it's not as straight on enjoyable as "Crucify The Priest", though in time the hard hitting hardcore attack meshes greatly up with the thrashy deeds and the combination kicks some ass.

Rating: 7/10

Bludgeon website

Bludgeon interview

Distributed in Denmark by Target and kindly supplied by Magic Circle Music

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