Righto punk rockers after a debut album that was heralded as a hardcore classic right from the off Bloodclot were far more than the sum of their parts even if those parts were fuckin’ awesome. After the sad loss of Todd Youth the thought of a new Bloodclot album didn’t crop up on anyone’s radar I wouldn’t imagine. Then Boom! the power of the internet revealed late in 2022 that there was now music seeping out of the wounds of Bloodclot and whilst there was a huge Youth sized hole in the band they could continue if the material was anywhere near as strong as what was on the debut.

Mainstay vocalist and part-time Cro Mag John Joseph howls the battlecry of Bloodclot and as far as modern hardcore goes these are as good as you can hope to get and stand on top of the pile. Apparently, Bloodclot has been a going concern since the mid-80s kicking out the jams on the live front but it wasn’t until ‘that debut ‘Up In Arms’ were they laid down for eternity on some epic wax. Almost a decade later they follow up that debut with the stingy ‘Souls’ stingy in as much as there are only seven songs represented here but boy is it in your face hardcore. With Slayer gone and living it large in some retirement home someone needed to pick up those riffs and smash them down onto wax so why not Bloodclot.

There might not be many songs on this seven-track album but there’s a hell of a lot going on and it’s Hardcore as fuck with no second passing that isn’t going to devastate your eardrums or give you the slightest second to catch your breath. It’s Punk as fuck, Metal as fuck, Hardcore as fuck – Thrash as fuck it’s the whole freakin lot. My only complaint is the cost of getting this into the UK with the cost going through the roof currently thanks to Brexshit and the UK government dragging us closer to hell with their economics and cost of living but then again what better soundtrack is there?

When you find out that Joseph has recruited Tom Capone formally of the influential post-hardcore band Quicksand, bassist Craig Setari of Sick Of It All, and Darren Morgenthaler formally of Madball on Drums you might begin to understand why these guys deliver such a bone-crushing heaviness.

If it was possible this is heavier than ‘Up In Arms’ in a Slayer thrash sort of way its crossover at its finest and uncompromising. If I were to offer up a criticism then it would be the fact that there are only six original songs here with the album closing off with a rip through Bad Brains ‘How Low Can A Punk Get’.

‘Unhinged’ will pummel you ‘War Castles’ out Slayers early Slayer with a twist. Save the Robot’ is a little slower in tempo but not much, even leaning on early Metallica especially when you hear dim the light’s lyrics but why not. ‘Infectious’ is a slower more grinding heaviness and possibly the least enjoyable track on offer. But hang on in there ‘Relentless’ picks up the pace again with its tip of the hat to Lemmy and his Ace Of Spades (nice touch).

I’ll always be interested in a new Bloodclot album regardless of how many songs and how long it lasts because even if it’s not hit the dizzy heights of ‘Up In Arms’ it’s not too far behind and that’s still a rip-snorting place to be.

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Author: Dom Daley