By Blood Alone - Seas Of Blood

As a reviewer—and an all-around obsessive music fan—I welcome unknown bands into my life with more fervent passion than new releases from bands I know and like. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to be asked to review Eternally by an unknown—to my ears—band called By Blood Alone. The EP was a great little piece of what I consider to be true gothic metal. In that first review I ranted a bit about the misconception of what today's everyday music fan considers to be "gothic." To put it simply, without repeating myself here: I disagree with most labels. I will, however, set this review up by quoting myself from that previous review:

"Like the legendary Bauhaus (arguably the most famous gothic rock band ever) stylistically mixed it up in the 80s, By Blood Alone have combined many different elements from rock, metal, doom, gothic romanticism and even a little pop, and created a tapestry that is undeniably gothic in style, but also much more if you can listen beyond the free-form, minimalist nature of the songs."

I've read a few reviews that suggest there is some prog-rock on this album, but I would disagree with that. On Seas Of Blood, not a lot has changed since Eternally, in terms of style. By Blood Alone still mixes it up pretty well, but they keep that musical sea a bit calmer than the term progressive—or the album cover—depicts. The album does, however, boast some very interesting and style-shifting pieces. But overall, Seas Of Blood seems to show a band that has kicked up the metal and symphonic elements a few notches. This is immediately evident on the opening track "Serpentarius," which starts like a lost 80s metal classic; it then shifts into a keyboard-heavy masterpiece with some excellent stylistic twists and turns which keeps its seven-plus minute length seem much shorter. "Wants Me Dead" (re-recorded from their 2004 demo) continues to carry the proverbial metal torch, its fire fed by John Graveside's galloping "fist in the air" breaks. However the song's heaviness seems to come not from the guitar but from the chilling keyboard work of Jenny Williamson, as if it were a mystical shroud that hangs heavy like a funeral pall. "Lovely Lies" and "Nidhogg" embrace a similar style, slowly exuding a sense of dread and foreboding like sweat from pores.

With four of the album's eight tracks walking a relatively similar path, it could have been very easy for the band to get bogged down in a well-traveled rut. Fortunately By Blood Alone understand balance. The creepy "Undead Friend" plays like a burial waltz for the recently departed—if it were the 1800s. And the twisted and quirky "Little Lady Lillit"—with Cruella doing her sadistic best at sounding cute and downright devious—reminds me of Emilie Autumn's post-Enchant foray into the self-dubbed Victoriandustrial style. A new recording of "Deny Yourself—which was on the Eternally EP—is the album's heaviest track, relying more on the crunch of guitar and double-bass than the atmospheric veil of keyboards, though that is still present. The epic—and arguably best—of the album is "Seas Of Blood," a graceful and expansive track that evokes a sort of sad beauty. The music rises and falls with the slow intensity of an ocean swell, with Cruella's voice lightly but passionately rocking on its surface.

By Blood Alone isn't a flawless band. Part of me wishes the guitars had a fatter tone, and others have mentioned that Cruella's vocals aren't as strong as some others. While those might be valid complaints for most bands, I think it actually adds to the character of the band's music. There's something real and warm in its imperfections. And there's nothing bad about this band, especially when it comes to the songs. A band like Linkin Park might have the luxury of spending two years doing pre-production, two more years of studio recordings and even more overdubs, for what ends up a thirty-minute album with not a note out of place; but it loses the human element in the process—it lacks the passion and defined character of something real. While not flawless, By Blood Alone is a band that is nearly so, in spite—or possibly because—of its flaws. Seas Of Blood is an outstanding album.

It's also worth noting that the album artwork is simply beautiful. The painting, A Mediterranean Brigantine Drifting Onto a Rocky Coast in a Storm, is a piece by Willem van de Velde, the younger, a Dutch painter of sea-pieces. The painting has obviously been slightly altered with added design elements, but the intensity of the image remains.

Video: Seas Of Blood, Lovely Lies, Nidhogg

Audio: Wants Me Dead, Undead Friend, Deny Yourself, Little Lady Lillit

Website: http://www.bybloodalone.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bybloodalone

Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.