Click on a link to hear a sample of the track.

01. Dressed in black
02. For the love of God
03. Christmas
04. Blinded by blood
05. It is not sound
06. The truth
07. In the red
08. Your call
09. Operator


Review in Abrasive Rock July 2005

So I’ll go ahead and admit that I’m an elitist asshole when it comes to metal. I have a forum that tells me so. That said, I often forget that there are times where I need to step out of my little elitist bubble and take a look at a cd from a different angle, or just in a different situation. For example, if you’re in the mood for some raging death metal or thrash, putting on Opeth’s “Damnation” disc isn’t going to get you far. However, when you’ve had a long ass day at work and you want to unwind, maybe drift off into a nap, that would be the perfect choice. Blood Inside is kind of the same general type of idea. If you are putting it in expecting classic Ulver, it is not something you are going to get. If you put it on when you are in the mood for power metal or death metal or black metal, you probly won’t be too taken by the whole disc. Hell, if you are in any mood other than a mix of electronica, avant garde semi-metal music, this won’t do it for you.

So at first, being the elitist asshole that I am, I thought this sucked. I just couldn’t get into it. It was so weird, but so un-metal that I just couldn’t be seen listening to it, let alone enjoying it. The only problem was that no matter how much I told myself I hated it, the songs kept getting stuck in my head, and Garm’s amazing voice plagued me at every lull in concentration (which I assure you is quite often). After listening more and more, I decided to admit defeat and accept what a truly great disc this is, though a bit unorthodox. This is the kind of disc you’ll want to lay back with, slap on some headphones and just let the whole thing envelope you. Musically, it’s a bitch to describe other than the aforementioned electronica elements mixed with some metal, but this has a very inorganic feel to it. Almost like a chaotic, machine driven opera. The production is hard to describe as well, and I can only say that it sounds very inward focused as though it could implode at any second, but is far from “bad” production.

I have to say this is one of the more interesting and original discs I have heard. The big question is would I recommend it? Well… yes and no. This is not something everyone can appreciate, and even those who can appreciate it have to be in the right mindset or else it will sound like utter crap. Hell, it took me damn near a month to get this review written and I listened to this disc a lot. I’d say check out some mp3s and such before making this purchase, but if you have the capacity to appreciate this disc, then definitely do yourself a favor and pick it up. It’s a great break from blastbeats and growling.

By Zach Palmer