It's bands like this that make you respect the American black metal scene. Although this CD merely pairs up the band's two demos (conveniently titled "Summoned" and "To The Ancient Dawn"), it is one item that you surely want to have in your collection. The evil mastermind and the sole member of the band who goes by the name Troy LeBlanc is a man on a mission with one dark vision. While Bloodshed Divine takes inspiration from the giants of raw black metal across the Atlantic (Darkthrone, Burzum and Graveland are the first bands that come to mind), Mr. LeBlanc has his own (very American) perspective on how this inspiration should be applied. One minute he lets out jarring, devilish screams, another - an array of beastly growls. A dosage of death metal spice can be felt throughout the songs as well. Guitar tuning, for example, is much lower than that of the European bands of this sort. But Bloodshed's main trait is the ability of its creator to build deeply evil and vile atmosphere in a very pristine yet quite distinctive way. It is achieved through raw and fairly rudimentary, but carefully thought-out and executed sound and song structures, and prevalently lingering tempos. The CD starts with primeval screams of "Echoes Of The Abyss," which serves as an introduction, and then proceeds through six (actually the song "Bloodshed Divine" appears in two versions) harrowing tales of eternal death, Satanic rites, christian holocaust and, of course, the divine bloodshed. The CD is rounded off in a great way with the guitar/vocal-only track called "Blut auf Meiner Klinge."

With the appearance of more quality bands on the American soil, the USBM may finally be on the way of becoming its own force. The very existence of Bloodshed Divine is another step forward for the scene.

© 2001 boris