Epsilon- Blood Stain Child Review

Preface:

Blood Stain Child is a Japanese death metal band with a prevalent element of trance metal. In their 4th album, BSC has really embraced the trance element. It is quite impressive to me how a death metal band can incorporate such elements so seamlessly. I applaud them for this and for pioneering their own style. They also have a tough time in Japan because of the huge market for pop. This is perseverance is also praiseworthy. This band has earned my respect just by this alone.

Since this is my first time reviewing a full album and I don’t want to bore you, i am going to start off with general truths about the album. Then i will go into specifics on the highs and lows and if something is not particularly good or bad i will just say that it was nothing special and rate it. Please bear with me here

General Truths (vocals):

I will start with the positives. The first thing that you notice when you hear any of the songs on this album is how great Sophia sounds. I give her a ton of credit because she is without a doubt my favorite female singer. She has a great range of notes and great execution along with a beautiful voice. Not to mention (excuse me for being such a guy ladies), Sophia is gorgeous! She is without a doubt the prettiest woman in metal. Anyways 'm off topic. On to the screams. I had a bit of a problem with the screams actually. I do wish there were more of them. I think this album was not quite as heavy as it could've been. There was an imbalance that was dominated by Sophia. The technical execution was not great either. I thought that the screamer sounded like the one from Dead By April. I love DBA don't get me wrong, but it was like having two of them in terms of the screams. The album had potential, yet did not fulfill it completely. It was 7/13 of the way there. This is because there were 7 songs that I liked and 6 that I found boring or disliked. Regardless i still really liked the album.

Instrumentals:

I was quite impressed with the keyboard riffs. It was the picture of trance metal which I have always appreciated with BSC. The guitar was heavy at times but there was a lot lacking most of the time in the guitar riffs and solos. The solos seemed a little boring. I think that the use of solos was excessive. There were just too many solos that were good but not great. I felt like many of the songs were too similar and even approaching being the same. There were some that stood out particularly: serius VI, Unlimited Alchemist, La, and Eternal. The riffs on these songs were excellent. However, others ran together or were especially bad. I really don't like to criticize a band I truly enjoy but I am compelled by my nature to speak my mind. My last points about the instrumentals are that the outros seem to be too abrupt. It seems to just drop off at the end with few exceptions. The intros were fairly similar. A lot of them were abrupt. Unlimited Alchemist did well in the intro and La just jumped right in with the heavy riff. This isn't bad unless it's over used. It absolutely was overused on both ends of most songs. It wasn't executed incredibly well so it took away from the song right off. The outro is not as big a problem as the intro because the intro is the hook that seemed to be lacking often in this album.

Other Notes: I have watched the tragic plight of many bands happen here with BSC. It's not to the extreme yet but it is beginning. I see a lot of bands start off amazing. They come out with their goals set and a steady focus. After awhile though, those goals become unclear and that focus wavers. There is a lack of creativity and effort after you become comfortable. Many bands seem to give in or decline or even change styles because they are doing what hey are told. This is exemplified somewhat here. I see a little more pop in BSC now and I'm very saddened and disheartened because most of my favorite bands seem to do this. Fear not though as they have only barely started this process and can very easily recover. I look for them to reverse their slight decline and continue to improve upon what they've built. Re focus and set goals again and you will be fine BSC.

Stargazer Vocals:

I feel compelled to say something to her credit here because she absolutely slayed this song. Her vocal performance was absolutely stellar. When she I listen to her I get lost in her voice and that’s the only thing I wanna listen to. She is as I said before the best female singer in metal. She is tied for third on my list of clean vocalists with the new singer for scar symmetry. The other two are Christian Alverstam (#2 from Solution .45), and Roland Johansson of The Unguided. Regardless though I have a deep appreciation for the female vocal in metal if it fits. In this case, it is a perfect fit. This song ranks among my favorite songs ever actually.

Rating: 5/5. Vocal perfection

Instrumentals:

The instrumentals were not special. The Intro was very nice and had a decent hook. The riffs were truly a pedestal for Sophia to stand on. I suppose it did its job quite well. I quite enjoyed the guitar solo. This was not one of the crappy solos I mentioned before. I love the electronic feel because it’s incredibly difficult to integrate such elements into metal as they’ve done; even though this is not a heavy song.

Rating: 4/5 if it were better I think it would take away from Sophia’s performance. However, it would’ve made the song better. This inhibits me from giving it a better or worse rating.

Overall: 4.5/5. Easily one of the best songs on the album. Enough said.

Eternal Vocals: I liked what Sophia did here. She had another stellar performance. I especially loved the chorus when she goes into her higher range. I don’t understand why she talks some of the time in the verses. Not much else to comment on in terms of vocals except for the fact that some more screaming would be well appreciated.

Rating: 4.5/5. Not because Sophia was lacking but rather a lack of screams. They were minimal. I wish there were more. Yet when there was screaming, I was very impressed.

Instrumentals:

This song had a great buildup in the intro. It could not have been much better there. The solo was really great and was not one that I disliked. I didn’t like the slowdown in the middle though. This always makes me angry because if you have something going and you slow it to a crawl in the middle, it takes away from the enjoyment. I don’t mind if it’s fairly short but this was too long.

Rating: 3.5/5. One of the things that makes me furious is the long slowdown. This is my reason for degrading the rating. Otherwise, it would’ve been a 4 or 4.5

Overall: 4/5

Unlimited Alchemist Vocals:

This was really well balanced. There was a good amount of screaming along with cleans. This time for once, I think that the screams topped Sophia. The screams felt like they had a hint of black metal in them. This was one of the best songs on the album.

Rating: 5/5. Great balance along with the best screams on the album makes me very happy. Easily perfect.

Instrumentals:

This song had a decent intro although it wasn’t stellar. Really enjoyed the keyboard riff and the heaviness of the guitars. It was another of the really great songs on here. I also really liked the guitar solo and for a moment when they had a mini keyboard solo. I would love to see a full on keyboard solo because I think that their electronic feel could be complimented by one of these. In addition, I think they can make it sound great too. I also liked the drum riff when I could hear it.

Rating: 5/5. It was very well composed. It’s pretty simple to figure out.

Overall: 5/5

Electricity:

It wasn’t special. It was a bit boring both vocally and instrumentally. It wasn’t bad just not good.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Merry Go Round Vocals:

The vocals weren’t terrible. They weren’t too great either. The screaming was pretty good. I hated however when auto tune was put on Sophia’s voice around 4 mins. Auto tune really makes me angry as well even more than the long slow down in the middle of songs. It sounds so fake and it was unprofessionally done. They didn’t even try to blend it. Even if this was for effect, it still was terrible in my eyes. This made it sound very pop like. Sophia seemed a little flat in her vocals except towards the end.

Rating: 3/5. I cannot give this a good rating. Even when there was no auto tune, I still was quite bored. It ran together with other songs as well.

Instrumentals:

Where do I begin? This song was awful. I suppose I will start with my hatred of the intro to this song. It was lame and made me want to shut it off as soon as I heard it. It seriously degraded this song. The tempo was excessively up and down. Maybe that was the effect because of the name but again I hated that. I must admit that part of this song sounded like elevator music, mostly the intro. This song was a complete and utter failure. This was one of those solos that ran together and the same with the riffs. 

Rating: 1/5

Overall: 2/5. This song was generic and lazy. Even Sophia was lazy. It’s that simple it belongs in an elevator.

La+ Vocals:

I enjoyed the vocal performance here. Sophia once again did great. Starting to notice a pattern? The screams were nice. I think that there was nothing technically wrong with the vocals; I just don’t think it reached perfection because it was a bit too safe.

Rating: 4/5. Like I said, a bit safe.

Instrumentals:

Here I didn’t mind the lack of intro because it was getting right to the point. It was heavy on the guitar and it was a nice change. The guitar riff was really kick ass. This was better than the vocal performance for once. I was quite impressed with the instrumentals.

Rating: 4.5/5. The only thing keeping this song from perfection is the fact that the solo wasn’t great and was too short.

Overall: 4.25. It was simply a good song. Everything was working but it didn’t have that sense of wowing me. That’s why it’s not perfect.

Sirius VI Vocals: 

There isn’t a ton to comment on here. There was a hint of auto tune in the beginning but I am gonna give them some leeway here because I really like this song. The screams did well technically and I was very impressed. Sophia sounded very pure here when there was no auto tune on her voice. Overall, a great song.

Rating: 4.75/5. The auto tune prevented it from being perfect. Otherwise, it was a perfect vocal perfection.

Instrumentals: 

This was awesome! I really enjoyed the intro. It got to the heaviness quite swiftly. I liked the way that the song slowed down a bit in the middle and created a nice buildup back to the heaviness. It was fairly quick but it wasn’t too short and wasn’t too long. This was well executed.

Rating: 5/5.

Overall: 4.9/5. About as close as you can get to perfection without actually being perfect.

Forever Free Vocals:

The vocals were nothing special. It wasn’t bad and wasn’t good. It was just a song. I can’t find anything to say about it except it was a bit boring.

Rating: 3/5

Instrumentals: 

Once again, it’s not special. It was safe and slightly boring. I can’t see any technical mistakes. 

Rating: 3/5

Overall: 3/5. It failed to entertain me.

Dedicated To Violator Vocals:

I hated the auto tune in the beginning and middle of the song. I really get mad when a great singer gets deluded by such a horrible creation as auto tune. I also have two questions about this song: I want to know why BSC did an ode to Violator. Second, I want to know who or what he violates. That has always intrigued me. Anyhow, not great vocally.

Rating: 3/5

Instrumentals:

There wasn’t much going on here. The little mini solo that was all palm muted was really awesome. I liked the background electronic noises and the full on solo was pretty good too. I also liked the piano outro. However, this was one of those songs that sort of ran together.

Rating: 3.9/5

Overall: 3.75/5.

Sai-Ka-No: 

I was bored out of my mind listening to this song. That’s it.

Overall: 2/5. 

S.O.P.H.I.A Vocals:

I love to see Sophia go into her high range of notes. She does this in the chorus and she just goes from low to high. I like this exhibition of her range. The screams sounded pretty good as well. I see it hard for BSC to have vocal perfection when there are screams. Richard Sjunnesson’s screams are my standard. I use him to compare when referencing screams. BSC’s screams aren’t as professional sounding for some reason. Anyhow it is still well done.

Rating: 4/5.

Instrumentals:

I think the vocals and instrumentals were in great harmony here. The intro with vocals created a nice buildup. This isn’t something I’ve seen often but I like when there is a great synchronization like this. It was heavy for the screams and less heavy with the cleans. It was really great.

Rating: 4.25/5

Overall: 4.125/5. If the song was a little more exciting I would’ve been happier with it.

Void Remix Vocals:

I would rather hear Sophia sing than speak. I don’t like when she does this a lot because it’s an interruption to the song. I hated the screams in this song. I’m sorry sir but you sound retarded. It sounds unprofessional and ugly. They used a voice filter in a small part of the song which just sounds wrong, especially on screams. Sophia does great when she sings but in the beginning there is too much talking.

Rating: 3.5/5

Instrumentals:

As you all can see since I’ve said it so many times I’m a huge fan of well executed intros. This song has a great intro. The technological sounds are awesome. Then it slows down and speeds up again. I don’t like that they dropped the ball, then tried to catch it. This is one of the other things that irritates me quite easily. The solo was a bit boring. The tempo was all over the place which threw you for a loop. It was hard to follow because of this.

Rating: 3/5

Overall: 3.25/5

Moonlight Wave Vocals:

I liked the echo effect on Sophia’s voice in the beginning. This was her second best performance on the album because of the auto tune in one part. Regardless it was another great demonstration of her awesomeness. I loved the screams on this track too. They sounded really good and acted as a ledge for Sophia to stand on. Awesome job to both vocalists. There was an amazing climax both vocally and instrumentally that had been building through the whole song. It was awesome.

Rating: 5+/5

Instrumentals:

This song had a small intro but it was a great segue to the amazing guitar riff. The guitar riff was the best one on the album. It was one of those that you just want to rock out to, do a power slide, and play air guitar. The solo was awesome. Everything built up to the end of the song and it was amazing, regardless of the fact that it was so short.

Rating: 5+/5

Overall: The Unguided’s new single Betrayer of the Code is my standard for songs. It is my point of comparison. This song lived up to it very well. I can say with confidence this is among my top 10 favorite songs ever. 5+/5 is my rating which was hard earned. This however can’t surpass The Unguided. That’s a league by itself.

Album Rating: 3.75/5. It could've been better like I said. No need to repeat myself.

Best Song: Easily Moonlight Wave.

Good buy?: Considering I can't buy this album where I'm from, I still say it is worth buying some songs. the 7 that I liked are very worth buying. However, buying the whole album is a bit of a waste unless you're a collector for BSC or your donating to them. Only buy the good songs.

The Unguided- Betrayer of the Code Single

The Unguided have decided to rework the old Fallen Angels song Betrayer of the Code. They redid everything from the lyrics, to the riffs, to the artwork (which had the tattoo from Eden Fire and the blood which was really cool!)  going off the original version (of the music). What an improvement this song has made! In case you don’t know, Fallen Angels preceded Sonic Syndicate which preceded The Unguided. This song is a preface to the full remake of the entire demo. This song has single handedly re-defined Melodic Death Metal for me. Here’s why:

Instrumentals:
This song does something you don’t see every day. It has a guitar solo in the very early going. Richard has barely said a few words when Roland starts melting our faces. Before the solo we have very melodic and ominous keyboards which is something I’d like to see a lot of from Roger. He really takes you back to the Eden Fire era with this and it was amazing all the way through.This is the epitome of melodic to me. This is the part that re-defines the melodic in melodeath. The whole song re-defines the entire genre! The riffs for all of the Instruments are very melodic throughout the song. At times it’s very heavy which is a wonderful contrast to the melody even though it’s still present.
What really intrigues me is the guitar riff from Roland. He has 3 solos throughout the song. It almost seems like he’s building his part up through the song separately. Each solo becomes more amazing until the third makes you play air guitar while your eyeballs are melting. Roland has made me a huge fan of technical guitar playing and solos which were previously less important to me. I have tremendous respect to anybody who can play two instruments at once and I can see a specific style developing with Roland. He seems to like trills in the background sometimes which I also like a lot. I wish he’d do a few more but that is a stupid complaint.

Overall: 5+/5! This song was perfect here. I realistically can’t criticize something this amazing. Greatest instrumental song I’ve yet to hear. Another job well done Roland and Roger!

Vocals/Lyrics:
In the past I’ve praised Richard more than I have Roland vocally, this time I think Roland’s vocals were as good if not better than Richard’s. Roland is the story of this song. However, I’m going to save him until after Richard because his comments are longer.
As always, impeccable job on the lyrics Richard. My hat is off to you. Again, Richard poured his heart and soul and very living essence into his vocal performance and songwriting. The lyrics are more to the death metal style instead of Richard’s philosophical style which is a good way to keep us honest. I love his screams, especially when he goes high. This time we heard a good bit of his lower register. Honestly I love the fact that he has a large range and I like to see him use it entirely. His extreme low is as good as his high. I also think he adds a nice demonic feeling to his screams here. Maybe it was the riff that helped that but i think this was an intended sound. I loved it. The demonic style fits him well, although i do enjoy his philosophy too. The demonic sound was a really nice flashback to Eden Fire. Now to Roland.
The headliner for this song as stated before is definitely Roland. He does everything vocally and with his guitar. He adds his aggressive low range cleans and even a few screams I believe. I love when he goes down there in heavier songs because it really accents all of the work that everyone has contributed. He really exercises his full range as did Richard. He also put in an ominous vocalization during the slower part of the song in the chorus. He also does this thing in the chorus where it sounds a little falsetto. I love when he does that as well the aggressive lows. This guy has not received enough credit from me in the previous review. Here, it is all his. I not only remove my hat to him, I wave it around, scream, and then hurl it in his direction in salute.

Other Notes: I loved the way it climaxed at the end when the chorus was repeated several times. It got better each time until it couldn't get any better and the song had to end.

Overall: pure perfection! 5+/5! This is the best vocal and lyrical masterpiece I’ve heard in my lifetime!

Overall Song: 6/5! I know that’s awful math but this is the BEST song EVER! I haven’t stopped listening to it all day and This song will stay with me for a long time. This was a great decision by the 3 Rs to appease us fans with this song. This is their best song among all 3 bands and it will certainly hold us over until the full LP. I look forward to that more than anything right now.

Good Buy?: I’ve already betrayed the code! I bought one of the limited 616 merch. I urge you, rather implore you to buy this even if you’ve never heard of this band before. You will be happy! Buy here: http://despotz.bigcartel.com/product/the-unguided-botc-unisex-t-shirt-signed-poster-and-mp3
and here: http://sixonesix.se/
 the second one takes you to a place where you can get to the first link or you can go to iTunes or Amazon from there. Support the cause and go check out their forum here: http://lestat.rymdraket.net/tu_forum/index.php

Thx for reading!
    CJ

The Unguided- Nightmareland EP

The army has mobilized this past April. The army of The Unguided that is. Before i review their ep, I'd like to send a shout out to Richard Sjunnesson and Roland Johansson. They are two very brave people for doing what they've done. Roland having left Sonic Syndicate because he wanted to spend time with his family. And to Richard who followed his heart and had the bslls to quit Sonic because he didn't like the direction that the label was forcing them in. These guys and Richard's brother Roger make up a band that eptitemizes what music is about and what life is about. On to the review!

Green Eyed Demon Istrumentals:
I loved what Roger and Roland did in the intro here. He had a nice buildup that didn't bore you, and then it just exploded which was a phenomonal hook. The song was heavy on the guitars which was nice. Also the song slowed down a little in the bridge and rebuilt from the ground up. It was very well timed so it wasn't boring at all. This was well done by Roger/Roland and I have to award him a 5/5!

Vocals:
two words: kick ass! Richard was great with good intonation and heavy mids and nice highs. Roland got a little aggressive which I liked. He even screamed once which i liked quite a lot. I love to see Roland go into his upper register when he says "your innocence was never an excuse." this was brilliant. The one criticizm that I have is don't whisper the last chorus and let the song fall off a cliff! Use what you've already created! This song doesn't have a climax. It peaks way too early in the second chorus. I cant call that a climax. Still, I must give them a 5/5 with that one repercussion.

Overall: 5/5 and well deserved. Very nearly perfect.

Pathfinder Vocals:
In the lyrical follow up to Rebellion in Nightmareland, this song does very well. Though not nearly as heavy as its counterpart, it still has a good amount of meaning. Richard begins by screaming his lungs out in the mid-high range. I loved their decision to feature Peter Tagtgren. I think this was a brilliant contrasts in vocal range with peter's voice being lower and Richard's being higher. Roland's voice is very pure in the chorus (which is a little weird when describing a metal band). his cleans are spellbinding. I like that little part at the end about pursuing their dream because that is a true testiment to what they've done. I also liked the "you are nothing without me" at the end of the chorus. Great job to all vocalists especially Rich! 5/5!

Instrumentals:
Green Eyed Demon was deffinately a hard act for Roger/Roland to follow. He did it quite well actually. I have only one criticism to Roland; but I will save that until after the praise. It jumps right in without an intro which isn't a bad thing. It is rather a nice change. i heard a really nice baseline in there which surprised me. Props to Jonas for his session help and producing of the EP. For most of the song I think that the instrumentals were a pedestal for Richard and Roland's amazing vocals with the help of Peter. Here's my criticism: the solo seemed out of order to me. i would've liked to see the plam mutes in the beginning and build from there.This rather than jumping in immediately, palm mutes, slow down, and kick it up on the last few chords. it should've grown and become amazing or; go absolutely all out from beginning to end. Overall though it was well composed: 4/5 for them.

Overall: 4.5/5. the vocalists really made this song worthwile.

Best song: Considering that there are only 2 songs and I rated Green Eyed Demon higher I'm going to lean a bit on Green Eyed Demon.

Good buy: Since I'm one of the 616 with the limited edition shirt and cd I would say absolutely YES!

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

                                                                               CJ

Deliver Us Single- In Flames

The fathers of melodeath have done it again! In Flames' new single, Deliver Us was fair. I enjoyed the intro because of its masterful build up. It got you into it immediately with a nice guitar hook. I will say that it was strangely slow after the intro. I was really hoping that they would use some serious TNT in the chorus. This would've made the song absolutely perfect in my opinion. I think they failed to make use of the hard work they did beforehand.

The guitar solo was ok overall. I found the music video to be quite entertaining. I think with the name of their upcoming album: Sounds of a Playground Fading, i think the video is fitting. If i were Nuclear Blast and In Flames i would not have chosen this song for the video or the lead single. I think the video should've gone with the corresponding song and at this point i can't say what i think the lead single should be.

Rating:
instrumentals: I give this a 3.5 because of the awesome buildub and intro, but the lack of excitement in the chorus and other parts. The solo was ok but nothing special.

Vocals: I think Anders does well here. I wish for a little more screaming but overall it was solid. 4 for him.

Overall: 3.5 for reasons mentioned above.

Good buy?: This is worth the money on itunes. I like the song overall. I dont see bad mistakes rather than room for improvement. Go ahead and buy it! I am also looking forward to the full lp.

Note: I will not be reviewing the advanced songs that are floating around YouTube to respect In Flames.

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