Genre: Melodic death metal
Origin: The Netherlands
Released: 2010
Website: Fuelblooded
Label: My Kingdom Music
Uploaded: 01.03.10

Ok, I have to say it; what the hell is up with all these modern day melodic death metal bands, why the hell do they have to infest their music with clean vocals? I’m not a fan of melodic death metal anyway, but it gets even worse when they don’t even use growls or screams anymore. What’s the point of playing metal if you lack heaviness, brutality and harshness… I just don’t get it. Anywho, this is Fuelblooded’s follow-up to their apparently successful debut album from 2006 (I’ve never heard of them before, but that’s probably ‘cause I stay quite clear of such death metal). The first thing I did was check out the video included on the CD. It gave a professional impression, but it was quite clear that this album wouldn’t be my cup of tea.
Musically this feels incredibly commercial, like they’ve gone almost out of their way to appeal to commercial radio and tv channels. As an inexperienced listener of melodic death metal this sounds pretty much like every other band doing the exact same thing; In Flames, Soilwork, Darkane and whatnot. The only thing that sets these guys apart would be their prominent thrash metal influence, which really shines through in the riffing department. But overall I’d say this is your run of the mill Swedish melodeath band, except they’re Dutch. The riffing, that could’ve been groovy and at times actually do sound heavy and catchy, unfortunately comes off as pretty mellow. It’s only heavy in the commercial sense of the word. But at least they really know how to handle their instruments, and they’ve certainly got the prowess for writing catchy and energetic riffs.
The tempo stays quite firmly as a faster mid pace variant, with some slower breaks of course. And with the ultra-clean vocals, sounding almost Hammerfall-like, they completely drain the music of its heaviness and brutality. As I’ve already stated I don’t get why you’d use this type of vocals for a metal band, unless you’re actually playing heavy or power metal (which both suck anyway). But what makes it even worse is the fact that this guy can really growl, as he shows towards the end of The end starts here (I didn’t mean to make a pun), so why the hell not growl all the way? As it is now it’s clean vocals almost entirely through the album, but with the occasional scream here and there. It all sounds so incredibly commercial.

Tracklist:
01. The end starts here
02. Discounted dormancy
03. When passion dies
04. Recipe for demise
05. The cult of ego
06. Off the face of the earth
07. The wrath of A'ath
08. Pandemic persecution
09. Demonized