Blood Thirsty returns with an ep of three new songs and four alternate version of previously released songs, bringing their interpretation of bone-crushing symphonic technical death metal first heard on Sanguine River Absolution.

For those who know of Derek Corzine from his other projects, Whisper from Heaven, Syringe, ex-Bloodline Severed, one may think that Blood Thirsty sprang from those, but the history is a bit more complex than just the solo project it ended up being.  Blood Thirsty started as a project with Rev. James Rich back in the late 1990’s as a way to make brutally heavy music focused on Jesus Christ.  For the first album Sanguine River Absolution, Rev. James Rich contributed some of the riffs in a few songs while all music, vocals, and recording was done by Derek Corzine.  Once again, Derek Corzine handles all instruments and vocals on this album.

Woe to the City of Blood in some ways is a tale of two ep’s.  The first one would be the three new tracks, one of which, “A Prophecy Against Ninevah” is largely an instrumental intro track that does serve well to institute a sense of foreboding and impending doom.  The title track “Woe to the City of Blood” immediately follows and somewhat fittingly is based on Nahum chapter 3 that starts out with the line “Woe to the City of Blood” and describes the judgment of Ninevah.  Musically the track starts out with a short keyboard burst that leads into a heavy, pounding guitar riff.  Double bass and guitars fire off in machine gun like fashion during the verses that are mostly uttered in a deep growl with some higher black metal like shouting interspersed.  Keyboards return at various points in the song and lend some good atmospheric backing to the guitars and drums.

In keeping with brutal death metal, no punches are pulled lyrically on “Beheaded,” which describes martyrdom of the type we’ve been exposed to recently from Isis.

Feel the cold edge of the blade as it’s pressed to my flesh ,Starting to slice, The edge of the tool is beginning to cut through my neck, The spurting of blood, Lacerating the skin revealing the organs within, Off with my head…

The song itself is almost in two parts with the first part essentially setting up the execution scene described above.  The construction of the works well as the general tone and feel  are significantly different from the first half of the song as the martyrdom plays out

The second half of the ep consists of alternate version of songs off the first album Sanguine River Absolution and those who have heard the first album will immediately recognize these versions which have been dubbed as an “aggressive version”.  The exception would be “The Day the Devil Lost” which now is an instrumental.  Overall,  these versions have a better, more full sound to them and a result, a heavier feel, so the “aggressive” tag seems fitting.  I would also say that on the ep, these tracks stand out to me as the stronger ones. Once again, Derek Corzine has delivered some heavy and brutal technical symphonic death metal and from the subtle changes in sound on the ep compared to the first album, there should be some more good things to come from this project.

Rating: 7.5/10

Written by John Jackson

Tracklist:
1. A Prophecy Against Ninevah
2. Woe to the City of Blood
3. Beheaded
4. The Day the Devil Lost (instrumental version)
5. Crush the Head of the Serpent (aggressive version)
6. Omniscient (aggressive version)
7. Behold, the Fire (aggressive version)

Band Members
Derek Corzine – All instruments, vocals

Record Label: Independent, Nov. 2015

Discography:
“Sanguine River Absolution” (2014)
‘O Come Emmanuel (The One Foretold)’ [single] (2014)

Weblinks: Facebook / Bandcamp