The Beast Is Full…Indeed; Bonded By Blood’s Debut Reigns Supreme

Los Angeles thrashers Bonded By Blood have just released their debut album “Feed the Beast” on Earache Records and it is awesome. With original riffs, crushing rhythms and supersonic vocals, “Feed the Beast” makes Bonded By Blood one of the best retro-thrash bands around.

The album opens with the speedy yet catchy anthem “Immortal Life.” Not only are the lyrics heavy, the chorus is incredibly catchy and is definitely a strong opener. It gets the blood pumping and makes you want to yell along with the words as you pummel posers to the ground.

Then the title track “Feed the Beast” comes on and just like the rest of the album it drives you and anything in its way into the ground. The song reminds you of early Death Angel as the tempo is fast and it’s all really heavy. It brings you back to the good ol’ days of mosh pits and stage diving.

Other standout songs such as ”Civil Servant,” “Psychotic Pulse,” “The Evil Within,” “Self Immolation” and “Tormenting Voices” are chaotic with no letting down as the guitar work and unique vocal rhythms hack away at the sheer brutality of the overall music.

The great thing about this band is that they’re incredibly different from all the other “new wave” thrash bands out there. The riffs don’t sound like rehashed Testament songs and you definitely don’t get bored. The guitar work is very impressive as Juan Juarez and Alex Lee deliver a gut-wrenching aural assault on everything in sound. The soloing is incredible with sweeps, melodies and whammy noises that bring you back to 1985.

As great as the guitars are, Jose “Aladdin” Barrales takes the cake on this one with his unique vocal delivery and pushes out insane lyrics. Barrales sings in a melody reminiscent of thrash metal legends Katon De Pena (Hirax) and Sean Killian (Vio-Lence). He’s very entertaining and it’s exciting to hear something new to the scene of Slayer/Kreator clones that the majority of bands try to emulate today.

One of the best songs was saved for last on this one as Bonded By Blood closes this chaotic debut with a cover of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme song. Yeah that’s right, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Theme. It makes a great album legendary and is incredibly entertaining. In all seriousness this idea was pure genius.

Old and new fans of thrash metal will devour “Feed the Beast.” The album hits you hard from start to finish and sounds like no filler was on it. It’ll make you smile a vengefully and mischievously while banging your head to the crushing goodness that is Bonded By Blood. They truly live up to the legendary Exodus album they got their name from and no fan of metal should be without this debut.

Not only does “Feed the Beast” whet your appetite, it fills you to the brim with true Thrash Metal. If ears wore clothes, you’d be a XXL by the time they’re done supersonically feeding.