Bloodlust Guilty as Sin

Bloodlust 'Guilty as Sin' (Roadrunner, 1986)

I'm pretty sure that this was another 'I'm going to buy this just because it's been here for so long' purchase at Glasgow's Avalanche before Finch and I walked to the Ark from Queen Street.

'Guilty as Sin' starts with a sub 'Fight Fire with Fire' introduction which signals the heights Bloodlust are trying to attain whilst trying to escape the mediocrity which is revealed as soon as the first underpowered riff follows. Bloodlust are speed metal in the vein of the previously discussed Abattoir. They're neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned; they're not fast or heavy enough to be considered Thrash and they're not skilled enough to be judged in the same league as the likes of Judas Priest. It's fair to say that 'Guilty as Sin' is not a hundred miles away from Anthrax's barely acceptable debut. Actually that's being a little unfair to the loveable 'Fistful of Metal'.

The vocals really let this album down with Guy Lord mainly utilising a mid-range bellow with some high pitched attempts at a falsetto that are somewhere between Rob Halford and Tom Araya's screams. On 'Bleeding for You' he really struggles to carry the vocal melody and even enjoyable songs like 'Tear it Up' are brought down to earth, admittedly not from a great height, by his pub rock performance. 'Too Scared to Run' may be the best song on show here with its plodding Rainbow/Dio swagger, but you need a good vocalist to carry such standard fare and Mr. Lord isn't up to the job.

Of most note is the fact that 'Guilty as Sin' boasts one of the worst covers in my collection looking like it was executed by a thirteen year old using coloured pencils and a cheap Helix geometry set. It's really awful and just gets worse the longer you look at it. How or why they decided to use such an artistic travesty only they will ever know, particularly because their logo really isn't that bad. It's also printed so poorly that it looks like it's faded which also doesn't help its cause.

Previous owner Jason has left his John Hancock on the inside of the sleeve. I wonder why he felt the need to leave his mark upon such an unremarkable record. An intriguing mystery to be sure.

Peace