Bloody Sign
Chaos Echoes

June 2010
Released: 2010, Blood Harvest Records
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

France, known for its crazy metal chicks and great historical events more than anything else really, has always had many good, worth-a-listen metal bands coming from their territories (Killers, Resistance, No Return, Massacra, Loudblast, Agressor, Mutilated, etc., to name just a few) – and death metallers Bloody Sign certainly gets the same blessing, to rightfully belong to the very same pile as well.



Bloody Sign plays kind of similar death metal style-wise where Immolation sucks their influences, nuances, etc. from. It´s dark, it´s murky, it´s downright heavy and it´s partly a little bit experimental death metal with pretty unusual time signatures that lift them up from the pile to its own advantage. Similarities to Immolation are definitely there – yes, but then again, Bloody Sign is still pretty damn far away from being a straight copycat from their NY-based death brothers.



On the band´s 3rd album, CHAOS ECHOES (on the Swedish label Blood Harvest), Bloody Sign is intended to keep things heavy, brutal and vicious, but it´s also good to notice that they have taken the time to write and add a few more complex and experimental parts into the songs of their latest full-length effort. Therefore the band is sufficiently capable of keeping things interesting and challenging on CHAOS ECHOES, not giving out that many self-explanatory solutions for listeners as far as the complexity of their song structures is concerned. A familiar 90s old-school vibe reigns as a strong part within their stuff too, which I find great – and when it´s all tangled around the band´s own will to put together their death metal package in a little bit more different way than normally, that´s when it starts get fascinating for most people, I guess. For example, there are 5 instrumental cuts (sort of preludes) on this record, all of them adding a certain positive feel about these fellows twists and willingness to bring their stuff a bit out of the regular norm. For example, “Voice from the Depths” is a 2-minute instrumental song - entirely played by bass, in which lots of echoes have been used, bringing in its special, tasty spice into wholeness.



With a crisp and heavy production that CHAOS ECHOES has also been blessed with, the death metal community should not miss this album. The old saying, “death metal with a difference” makes it truly all more than worthy on CHAOS ECHOES.