The first quarter of 2022 has bestowed some badass slabs of blackened thrash/speed/first wave worship. Deathhammer’s Electric Warfare reminded us why Destruction’s upcoming album is probably, most likely, almost definitely not worth bothering with. Midnight’s Let There Be Witchery boasted enough blackened speedpunk bangers to keep us raging for the rest of the year and then some. Now we can add another release to these ranks, one who’s spin on this oft explored approach is definitely worth noting: Bastard’s Rotten Blood.
First off, how can you go wrong with a band named Bastard? Does it get any more metal (or punk for that matter) than that? I think not. These guys could’ve gone with a “speed” prefix or a “dis” prefix or an umlaut laden name, all of which are par the course for these types of bands, but no. They straight up called themselves Bastard. The only way you could name yourself that and disappoint is if you don’t live up to said name. Have no fear my loyal readers. These dudes live up to their name alright. They are some filthy, diabolical, hard rocking bastards indeed…and they’re proud of it!
When examining the Motörhead meets Venom spectrum these bands fall on, Bastard almost unsurprisingly leans heavily to the Motörhead side. There’s an underlying penchant for all things rock n’ roll in the riffs, solos, and attitude of cuts like “Whipstrike”, “Crescent Horn”, and the appropriately titled “Under the Tattered Banners (Of Rock ‘n’ Roll)”. Some songs see the band combining this approach with other metallic tropes. For example, “Hellfire & Steel” marries this motörcharged sleaze with the sinister misanthropy of Celtic Frost, resulting in a merciless hellstorm of d-beats, metalpunk riffing, and “oughs” on “oughs”.
Even despite the speedy rock n’ roll nature of the riffs and arrangements, they’re played with an unbridled intensity and aggression that owes more to thrash than speed per se. Save for a few blast beat explosions, “Leather-Bound Book of Lies” wouldn’t sound out of place on Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All, thrashing riffs, mosh worthy breakdown, and all. The title track and “Spellbound” too scream thrash circa ’83, which is sure more welcoming then the cut and paste revival bands who attempt thrash circa ’87, when generic bands like Gothic Slam were clogging the scene. Through it all is the burning flame of old school black metal, which in terms of traditionalism, burns brightest on the second half of “The Possession”.
What’s most amazing about Bastard is that they’ve been around now for a decade and this album is the first I’m hearing about them. With chops like this, how they haven’t been co-opted by the Instagram trendies is beyond me. I’m sure that’ll change in due time and rightfully so. Bastard deserves to have their patch sewn onto every jacket in the country. Plus, do you know how much cooler you would look with a Bastard patch in between your Hellhammer and Bathory patches? A lot cooler!
7 out of 10
Label: Distortion Music Group
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Motörhead, Venom, Demiser
Great review,great album,amazing band!
Do yourself a favour and check out their previous albums;you won’t be disappointed.