Bonded By Blood - Feed The Beast

When a band is named after a classic thrash metal album, you can guess what they will sound like. In the case of Pomona, California's Bonded By Blood, that guess is right on the money. Exodus is a definite influence, as are several other Bay Area thrash bands like Testament and Megadeth.

Feed The Beast is played like it was recorded back in the day, but the production is completely up to date. It's old school thrash metal played at warp speed. Bonded By Blood has dual guitarists, and they are the stars of the album. Juan Juarez and Alex Lee cram more riffs into a song than seems humanly possible. There are also plenty of blistering solos. Some come in quick bursts, others are all out shredfests.

The songs on the CD are heavy and aggressive, and sometimes the continuous fast pace can get monotonous. Bonded By Blood does address that on songs like "Another Disease," which has some tempo changes that help add some diversity.

Jose "Aladdin" Barrales is the band's vocalist. He delivers the lyrics in a spoken word/yelling style that's typical for the genre. It's somewhat limiting, but Aladdin does vary his pitch and intensity depending on the music and lyrics of each song. There are also several gang shoutalong background vocals.

The album wraps up with a bonus track, a cover of the theme song from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a hilarious and still well done version. It's the perfect way to wrap things up. Feed The Beast is one of many thrash revival CDs released lately, but Bonded By Blood has the musical chops and passion to become more than just another band in the new wave of thrash metal.

(released June 24, 2008 on Earache Records)