I’ve only seen Bombus play live once. Opening for Graveyard getting on for seven years ago. That speaks to their longevity, for one thing. But in my review that night I managed to mention both Rock N Roll and Iron Maiden.
It’s pleasing that when you listen to “Your Blood” that time has done nothing to dampen that spirit of “anything goes”.
Their first album in five years (2019’s “Vulture Culture” was given 8.5/10 on these pages) is important to them given that they took the decision to record it themselves with no external influences, but it’s also slightly different than before. The title track for example is a more mellifluous proposition- moving into the kind of territory that may be more familiar to Baroness perhaps, but only if they were feeling particularly psychedelic.
Yet, as so often, the more things change, the more they sort of stay the same. “Killer” is definitely their brand of metal writ large. Energetic, “big” sounding and having two vocalists has always set them apart.
“The One” isn’t metal, though. It has more in common with U2 than Saxon at points, but the hooks here are strong.
Having three guitar players means they can kick out the riffs, and there’s a huge groovy one to usher in “No Rules” and if there’s a modern sheen to “Take You Down” then, ultimately it knows that it was Denim and Leather that brought us all together.
“The Beast” is, appropriately perhaps, darker and harder-edged, a descent into something, somewhere: “No matter what we eat we just keep feeding,” it says. Whatever appetite is being sated here, we’ll not get involved.
“Leave And Let Die” and who doesn’t love a a good pun? Thunders, blusters offering along the way “If I was a tailor I’d measure up your size”. No, we don’t understand either. It must have made sense in that Gothenburg studio.
Always deceptively heavy, but always on their own terms, Peter Asp plays an absolute blinder on “Carmina”, a superb, full-on metal song.
I might have scanned the tracklist of “Your Blood” and been hoping for a Heart cover when I got to “Alone” but no matter, it’s still ace and oddly makes good on the fact they claim to have got inspiration from the likes of W.A.S.P (although unlike Blackie Bombus don’t mime) and Mercyful Fate.
I often baulk at that type of thing, but not here, simply because there’s so much mixed in to create a sound all of its own.
On “Your Blood” it is creativity that is pumping more than anything.
Rating 8.5/10
REVIEW: BOMBUS – YOUR BLOOD (2024)
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