{"id":43329,"date":"2025-08-04T17:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T17:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/43329\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T17:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T17:37:10","slug":"blessings-blodstrangen-review-angry-metal-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/43329\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessings – Blodstr\u00e4ngen Review | Angry Metal Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Originating from the same vibrant scene that has spawned acts ranging from At the Gates to Ace of Base, Gothenburg experimental noise quartet Blessings have been forging their own path within the borders of Sweden\u2019s olde harbor city for thirteen years. Comprised of long-standing veterans of the Swedish scene, Blessings have been worshipping at the altar of turmoil since its 2012 debut, Bittervaten came out waving a Black Flag of loud, Unsanely harsh, in-your-face noise rock. Subsequent years of relentless touring and creative experimentation culminated in the follow-up, Biskopskniven which leaned more heavily into rhythmic anchoring, trance-inducing moods, and riffing. With Blodstr\u00e4ngen, Blessings is poised to take listeners on an intense, genre-bending journey, venturing into increasingly experimental and unconventional sonic territory.<\/p>\n

Blodstr\u00e4ngen blends the grit of punk, the expansiveness of post-rock, and hardcore\u2019s raw aggression into an intensely juxtaposed sound that is dark, abrasive, and dramatic. Guitarist Johan G Winther lays down chunky Mastodon-style motifs (\u201cCopper + Dirt,\u201d \u201cRaised on Graves\u201d), shoegaze melodies (\u201cNo Good Things,\u201d \u201cStrings of Red\u201d) and bursts of dissonant chords (\u201cClean\u201d). Mattias Rasmusson\u2019s booming rock grooves drive moments of Old Man Gloom-like explosiveness, while Erik Skytt\u2019s percussive accents and expressive modular tones\u2014featuring everything from organs, cowbells, and woodblocks to a xylophone\u2014strategically guide listeners through Blodstr\u00e4ngen. Fredrik Karlsson\u2019s powerful voice commands excellent projection, especially during Blodstr\u00e4ngen\u2019s darker verses, alternating between spoken-sung punk vocals reminiscent of The Jesus Lizard or early Killing Joke (\u201cNo Good Things,\u201d \u201cClean\u201d) and throaty, abrasive howls (\u201cAllt Vi Kan Ge \u00c4r Upp,\u201d \u201cStrings of Red\u201d). Overall, Blodstr\u00e4ngen sounds massive and confrontational, the instrumentation hitting well above its weight, piercing a bright master that belies its DR score.<\/p>\n

Blodstr\u00e4ngen by Blessings<\/a><\/p>\n

Blodstr\u00e4ngen is best experienced as an immersive, uninterrupted ride. Its seven tracks flow seamlessly, shifting moods and textures while progressively intensifying. The record immediately kicks off with its strongest material, showcasing Blessings\u2019 dynamic songwriting and unique sound. \u201cRaised on Graves\u201d quickly establishes its edgy, ominous feel, creating foreboding through Winther\u2019s haunting notes, Karlsson\u2019s growling bass, and Skytt\u2019s tribal accents. Eschewing a predictable crescendo, it cleverly loops back to another verse before diving headfirst into full-blown punk with an insistent tambourine. An isolated cowbell punctuates the track, serving as a stark prelude to \u201cStrings of Red,\u201d which explodes into a hardcore frenzy after spells of tense breaths. Skytt\u2019s suspenseful synth leads and Winther\u2019s aggressive riffing drive the song, which serves as a definitive statement of Blessings\u2019 ability to produce hard-hitting material with intriguing textural elements, despite its meandering finish. Rounding out the album\u2019s robust first third is the ambitious and lengthy \u201cClean,\u201d one of Blodstr\u00e4ngen\u2019s longest tracks. Highlighted by what might be one of the gnarliest bass tones I\u2019ve heard in ages, Karlsson\u2019s hefty bass line and somber vocal delivery channels a Filter-esque vibe before a devastating breakdown tears through the mix. The song works beautifully once it gains momentum, though its dragging intro and overlong build partially weigh it down.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blodstr\u00e4ngen starts with incredible momentum and promise, making Blessings\u2019 subsequent struggles to maintain its energy all the more disappointing. While \u201cAllt Vi Kan Ge \u00c4r Upp\u201d injects much-needed vigor back into Blodstr\u00e4ngen with its dominant rhythms and exhilarating crescendo, \u201cNo Good Things\u201d marks a noticeable dip in energy. The track lacks the compositional ambition of the album\u2019s earlier material, consequently feeling plain as it relies too much on Skytt\u2019s quirky samples and Karlsson\u2019s vocals. \u201cCopper + Dirt\u201d is a short burst of aggressive, riff-driven material that abruptly ends after less than two minutes, a confusing result that feels wholly out of place. Finally, the terrific, harmonized melodies from Winther and Skytt within the first half of \u201cThrough Veils of Glass and Silica\u201d suffer, unfortunately, from its excessive length and meandering post-rock sections, which leave Blodstr\u00e4ngen ending on a drawn-out note.<\/p>\n

Blessings is a good band, but Blodstr\u00e4ngen is a front-loaded album that left me wishing these Swedes had maintained their peak energy for the entire forty-one minutes. When they\u2019re firing on all cylinders, Blessings crafts unique, powerful, and atmospherically heavy music. Their future success hinges on maintaining their intensity and sharpening their songwriting, steering clear of unnecessary repetition or padding. A great album is potentially waiting in the wings, and Blessings certainly has the talent to deliver. The question is, will they?<\/p>\n

Rating: Mixed
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb\/s mp3
Label: Pelagic Records<\/a>
Websites: blessingsgbg.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/Blessingsgbg<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: August 1st, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Originating from the same vibrant scene that has spawned acts ranging from At the Gates to Ace of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[20172,4891,64,33786,63,37982,37983,37984,134,37985,37986,37987,37988,136,37989,37990,37991,37992,37993,37994,228,229,26928,37995,37996],"class_list":["post-43329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-2-5","tag-4891","tag-au","tag-aug25","tag-australia","tag-black-flag","tag-blessings","tag-blodstrangen","tag-entertainment","tag-experimental-metal","tag-filter","tag-killing-joke","tag-mastodon","tag-music","tag-noise","tag-noise-rock","tag-old-man-gloom","tag-pelagic-records","tag-post-rock","tag-post-punk","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-swedish-metal","tag-the-jesus-lizard","tag-unsane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}