BLOODWITCH - Tell your God to Ready for Blood

BLOODWITCH

Album: Tell your God to Ready for Blood

Genre: Groove Metal / Rock'n Roll

Release Date: May 29th 2020

Country: USA

Label: Unsigned

Band Links: BANDCAMP / LINKTREE / FACEBOOK

Finding music you used to love is like getting back in touch with an old friend… Maybe, the “friendship” has cooled down for good reason, so it’s just a short “Hello” with a few nice memories. But sometimes, it’s the beginning of a new journey, and in case of the singer of BLOODWITCH, it became an incredible ride, but I have to reach back a bit.

In the 90s, I was blown away by a band called KILGORE (or Kilgore Smudge), when they opened for Fear Factory. Unfortunately, they parted ways soon after that, but their album “A Search for Reason” got lots of playing time back then. It remained in my collection and was rediscovered in 2016. After having a great time with their music again, I started a little research in 2017 what might have become of the band members, just to find out that they had reunited and released an EP ("Someday This War Is Going To End") – What a blast!!!

Since then, I followed them on social media, and it was a huge surprise to see another release popping up in the feed of their singer Jay Berndt a few weeks ago. He is part of another band called BLOODWITCH, which started in 2008, played a handful shows and recorded some tunes in 2012, but never released them… till now. And even though “Tell Your God To Ready For Blood” is only available digital unfortunately, it’s nevertheless a great listen.

I’d describe the music as a heavy kind of modern Rock’n Roll. The 10 tracks abound of hard-hitting riffs, straight forward driven by the rhythm section (feet and head start to move automatically), but you’ll find some amazing guitar solos as well. The mixing brings in a raw, traditional vibe (in contrast to those digitally smoothed albums), which is very welcome here. But the highlight is Jay Berndt for me: This guy is a beast on vocals, and he just nails it again. His expressive style is insane and gives the songs the power and anger they need.

Written by Katha