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New Zealand Sludge/Stoner Metallers Beastwars abide by one steadfast maxim “Obey the Riff” and obey they do. The Wellington based sonic heavy rock outfit play heavy blues inspired tunes of apocalyptic times wrapped around hard rock hooks. The band's groove heavy riffs and roughneck vocals grind a path through furrows of Noiserock and Doom, to illustrate the inconsistencies and conflicts of human nature, and the chaos and fear that engulf our world.
Following a successful collaboration on Beastwars' debut, Blood Becomes Fire is co-produced, recorded and mixed by Dale Cotton (HDU, Die! Die! Die!), mastered by John Golden (Neurosis, Swans, High On Fire) and features the art of Weta Workshop's award winning Nick Keller—whose mindmelting oil paintings depict a twisted world inspired by the aural artillery within.
Rough and gritty, forced vocals ring in the opening track 'Blood becomes fire' with the lyrics
“Hollow be my name, Traveled through time and space, Lost behind those stars, Lost in time itself” and shows exactly how this album is going to be in it's entirety and it never really diverted from this. It did have many clean and mellow sections with dropped tempo that kind of floated from noise to noise.
To me Beastwars' brand of Stoner Metal never really got off the ground and forced me sit up and take notice despite the many listens I gave this album.
I am being super critical, I know, but with the likes of Orange Goblin and Red Fang leading the Stoner Metal charge it is hard not to be and if these two bands in particular were removed from the Metal community altogether then this release would be quite good, it does tick a number of the right boxes and brings a few new elements with it.
This brings me to the conclusion of the review and the part where I offer you my overall verdict and I have to be honest, BeastwarsBlood becomes fire is Stoner Metal goodness and if you are a fan of the genre then this album is certainly for you but for those unsure this release certainly wont sway you either way.
Review Score: 7.1 out of 10
Blood Becomes Fire is available from tomorrow, April 19th.
More details: http://beastwars.bandcamp.com/album/blood-becomes-fire
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