Continuing the path of a storied band, Inferno mixes re-recorded versions of older tracks with new material in what seems to be a band redefining itself. Blood started as a grindcore band with more of a death metal attitude, then adopted an outlook closer to black metal for its opus O Agios Pethane, but since then has struggled by being caught in the middle of three genres. Part of the reason for this suspension derives from the nature of grindcore itself, which reached its peak with the relatively non-political work of bands like Carcass and Bolt Thrower, but then was recaptured by Napalm Death, who following their idols in hardcore including Siege, wanted to make it a forum for political statements, and these statements — which were very similar to what we heard from the EU and US at the time — struck metalheads and older punks as too conformist and untrustworthy. However, these rewarmed hardcore bands dominated what most people thought of as archetypal grindcore, which left Blood stranded in a political genre writing songs which kept the mythological focus that bands like Slayer and Possessed. While Napalm Death slowly brought more death metal elements into its music in the early to middle 1990s, grindcore all but evaporated as a distinct genre under the massive popularity of Napalm Death, who were not only big in America and the UK but also the wider third world, causing labels to get excited by the prospect of global profit from bands who were preaching straight Communism. The irony did not dent sales. Inferno shows a band attempting to encompass all of what it has done over nearly thirty years into a style for a new age where metaphor must not simply gesture, but express, a musical and artistic clarity. Simultaneously, the music displays a more militant and technological clarity, which makes it more directly threatening. To a listener not steeped in Blood and its history, these songs flow together smoothly, which shows the triumph of this approach. Savage vocals, ragged but articulate riffs, and a powerful sense of chorus — more like Sodom on Persecution Mania — dominate this album and give Blood new strength and vitality. It is glorious to see such a storied band coming back with such a strong future outlook.
