Baptized in Blood

Baptized in Blood Review:

Having just released their self-titled debut album, Baptized in Blood are currently on a Canadian tour and have already played Heavy MTL in Montreal, Quebec, in July 2010 and toured with Megadeth in the U.S. In fact, Dave Mustaine has praised the band and even, as reported at RoadRunnerRecords.com, has taken on the role of co-manager, but that’s likely some sort of label love fest going on. Baptized in Blood is making some noise, but is it good and is it being heard?

Overall, Baptized in Blood has some good tracks with decent hooks, melodic guitar solos, and catchy choruses that you can really sink your teeth into. However, the only track that really grabs you by the sack (on first listen) is “Down and Out,” which also happens to be the song that the label is pushing. After a couple of listens though, greater appreciation can be found for tracks like “Go It Alone.” It’s unfortunate that much of the album sounds like a recycled version of the same song, because there’s clearly some talent waiting to be developed (Rick Ruben, where are you?). While some of the solos clearly show an influence by Dimebag Darrell, Eddie Van Halen, and others call upon Iron Maiden, the riffs echo Black Sabbath, and the vocals, well, they’re “Gothenburg metal,” the general vibe of Baptized in Blood is a bit like Devil Driver.

One noticeable default on Baptized in Blood is the wall of bass that overrides much of the guitar work and sounds on the higher end of the sound spectrum. At least this was the case when I listened to this in my car, but the problem is less apparent through some headphones. Perhaps as the band matures they’ll resolve this recording issue in addition to relying less on the double bass and developing some song structure with depth (i.e., intros, bridges, and outros). Lyrically, the subjects Baptized in Blood address are light, dealing with things like angst and being dirty. By far the worst lyric on the album is, “Commonsense makes sense to me.”

Baptized in Blood live

We had the chance to see Baptized in Blood in October and we were fairly impressed with their live show. Despite the crowd of 30 or so in attendance (actually less people than some of the opening local acts had), Baptized in Blood played like they were taking on the world. They delivered a big sound, lots of energy, and even vocalist Johl Fendley did his best to play showman between songs.

Verdict: The album is worth a listen and the band is definitely worth seeing live. As far as purchasing this album, do so only if you’re impressed enough to buy Baptized in Blood’s follow-up (should there ever be one) and interested in seeing the band mature and develop.