STARBLIND – Dying Son review

 STARBLIND – Dying Son

Pure Steel Records

http://www.starblind.se/

In the 90’s Sweden was a country which gave birth to many melodic death metal bands and many of them actually are huge names in our days (like IN FLAMES and DARK TRANQUILLITY). The past few years Sweden has become the capital of what we say new wave of traditional heavy metal and gave us so many good bands whose their popularity grows day by day (ENFORCER, ROCKA ROLLAS, AIR RAID and so many others). STARBLIND belong to this movement and they are ready to strike back with their sophomore album entitled “Dying Son”.

THE COVER: The painting on the cover of the new STARBLIND album has a strong Balkan feeling. Let me explain that. You can see on the center a medieval dressed warrior surrounded by dead bodies of warriors fallen in battle. Also next to him on his right side you can see the same person as a ghost laughing. On the background you can see a dark sky and a castle. The person on the center of the cover is no other than the Romanian leader Vlad Tepes who fought against the Ottomans.

MUSICAL STYLE: The sophomore album of STARBLIND was recorded live in the studio and produced by the mastermind behind such bands like ROCKA ROLLAS and BLAZON STONE, Mr. Cedrick Forsberg. It is really impressive to do such a task, I mean to play live the whole album in the studio. Also the band which declares that is stuck in the 80’s has avoided using any effects that the modern bands use so much in our days. The musical identity of the band now is formed by twin lead guitars and its melodic lines which are strongly underlined by the solid and steady rhythm section. In a few words STARBLIND through their music pay tribute to the 80’s heavy metal, but instead of playing covers, they compose their own songs, which is far more creative.  

CONCLUSION: “Dying Son” is a celebration of traditional heavy metal, so don’t expect any innovations or surprises here, just songs that you have many chances to enjoy if you like the traditional metal sound. By the way I have to admit that after listening to them I rushed up to listen to some good old IRON MAIDEN tunes.

Nick “Verkaim”  Parastatidis