Feed the Beast (CD - 2008)

Bonded By Blood plays a form of neo-thrash metal that sounds nostalgic, yet is not dated at all. This relatively young band has taken elements of such classic bands as Exodus, Death Angel, and Forbidden, and melted them down to produce a no-frills, meat-and-potatoes sound. The result on display, FEED THE BEAST, is gritty, denim-and-leather metal. And in true thrash-metal tradition, the album closes with a rather unconventional cover song--the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES cartoon theme!

Traditionally, bands don't like to reveal their key inspirations lest it pigeonhole them artistically, but as members of a nu-thrash scene, devoted to authentic reproductions of the genre's fundamental, early-'80s aesthetic, Bonded by Blood show no qualms about screaming "Exodus!" from the rooftops of their hometown of Pomona, CA. (They'll regret all this later, by the way, but why burst their bubble now?) Sure enough, the hallowed Bay Area group's seminal first album and all of its genre-defining sonic qualities dictate every last move on this reverential quintet's debut, 2008's Feed the Beast -- although vocalist Jose "Aladdin" Barrales' is more Zetro Souza than Paul Baloff. If anything, Bonded by Blood are even faster and more precise, at times, than the original juggernaut (or at least ProTools makes it so), but, unfortunately, there's not much about their frantic thrash-outs that your uncles didn't already tell you (and them, obviously) about the real deal, 20-plus years earlier. Standout offerings like "Immortal Life," "Mind Pollution," and "Self Immolation" all "bang that head that doesn't bang," no doubt about it, and "The Evil Within" lends a little variety at slightly slower velocities, but they're hardly revolutionary stuff. Even the band's closing rendition of the theme from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has already been done by numerous other bands of all stylistic stripes. Therefore, though it pains one to fault their enthusiastic good intentions and very impressive technical abilities, Bonded by Blood have an uphill battle ahead of them if they are ever to step out of the Exodus shadow and leave a mark of their own on the new millennium metal scene. Then again, maybe that's not even their goal, and if so, more power to 'em. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia minimize