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Bloodclot - Up In Arms (2017)

1. Up In Arms
2. Fire
3. Maniac
4. Kill The Beast
5. Prayer
6. Siva Rudra
7. Soldiers Of The New Babylon
8. Kali
9. Slow Kill Genocide
10. Slipping Into Darkness
11. Life As One
12. You’ll Be The Death Of M

A line up consisting of John Joseph on vocals (Cro-Mags), Todd Youth on guitars (ex-Murphy’s Law, Danzig), Nick Oliveri on bass (Dwarves, BL’AST!, Svetlanas, Mondo Generator, ex-Kyuss, ex-Queens Of The Stone Age) and Joey Castillo on drums (Trash Talk, The Bronx, BL’AST!, EX-Queens Of The Stone Age, ex-Danzig) should be considered as a supergroup. To be 100% honest if only Joseph was on the line up this album would be great news to me and I guess to many other fanatics of Cro-Mags, too. You see if we can hear the voice of legendary ‘The Age of Quarrel’, ’Alpha Omega’, and ‘Near Death Experience’ on a record this record is a must. Trying to leave back the fanboy I guess most of you have listened to some of the tracks on Youtube as Metal Blade Records supports the release with a couple of videos, so you know more or less what we’ve got here. So I can’t lie and try to spread rumors in order to make a poor album a strong one to your eyes. And man ’Up In Arms’ kicks some asses really hard! Since Cro-Mags are substantially inactive, Bloodclot are here to fill this big void. But not only Bloodclot, as I want to refresh your memory and remind you that on early 2016 Harley Flanagan released his version of how a Cro-Mags album should be in nowadays and the provocative and kind of lazy-entitled “Cro-Mags” was a truly worth buying album. The Motorhead-like, rock ‘n roll/classic metal enriched the Hardcore sound and was a fresh look on a genre that is bleeding from the too melodic too lame rookies. Now Joseph answer is definitely interesting as he takes a deep back-to-the-roots dive and recaptures the vibe of the early punk days but with a modern approaching. The riffs are sharp and have a thrash metal influence but the whole feeling is totally a classic Cro-Mags one. 100% top notch Hardcore that blends the best elements from the 80’s and the crossover/thrash aggression with eastern melodies (‘Shiva Rudra’ is more than awesome anthem!). ‘Up In Arms’ is full of energy. And according to the law of the conservation of energy, energy cannot be destroyed, only transmuted. I hope only to transform – or transmit to someone who can transform – into acts the fiery lyrics that this Krisnha-straight edge freak, wrote against any authority, politician or elitist. Talking about each member individually we can find some of the best performances of their careers. John Joseph shouts like there’s no tomorrow, Oliveri’s bass is so clear and well distinguished giving extra volume to Bloodclot’s sound, Todd Youth is offering some great riffs and shreddings, while Castillo is pummeling with style as always. Killer album with killer songs as the stand out ‘Prayer,’ ‘Slow Kill Genocide,’ ‘Siva, Rudra,’ ‘Up In Arms,’ ‘Kali,’ ‘Manic,’ and ‘Slipping Into Darkness’ !!!