Drowning Amidst The Nebulae by Bloodlash is indeed an intriguing listen as the band makes good use of different genres to enhance their sound. There’s the more prominent technical death metal and prog styles, but look a little deeper and there’s hints of doom, classic rock and even a bit of blues.
Opener Scythian Aurora is a hard-hitting track that gets the pace going almost immediately with a striking and catchy introduction that almost makes you think this is just going to be your standard tech-death release, especially when the powerful harsh vocals get going…but then the clean vocals kick in and that’s when you realise that this release is more than that because Scythian Aurora is almost like a mini-adventure and the two different styles juxtapose perfectly against one another.
Broken Teeth is more of a slower track in comparison and has a bit of a doomy feel to it at first, especially with the deep and mysterious vocals at the start, and the track descends into a more bluesy number when the fully clean vocals are added, before taking more of a standard death metal approach, and similarly the latter two tracks are also excellent inclusions. Ocean Bed features an insanely catchy guitar line at some parts and In Gold And Blood is a great choice of closer, bringing everything together into one last adventurous burst of energy – the use of synth in this track is particularly good.
One of the things that makes Drowning Amidst The Nebulae so good is the fact that it’s difficult to anticipate what Bloodlash are going to do next because they aren’t afraid of experimenting and using as many different styles as possible. Quite simply, it’s a release that keeps you guessing from start to finish – and whilst this may not be an approach that would work for all bands, Bloodlash have crafted something that is absolutely brilliant.
9/10
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