WORLD UNDER BLOOD is a Melodic Death Metal band from Los Angeles, formed by CKY frontman Deron Miller and DIVINE HERESY drummer Tim Yeung. Some of you may be familiar with CKY, particularly due to the fact that they are an Alternative Metal band, but make no mistakes, WORLD UNDER BLOOD's debut album "Tactical" is Melodic Death Metal, pure and simple.

Miller has a love for the genre that much you can tell. He puts all of himself into the growls and awesome riffs in every song. This is also evident owed to the fact that apart from the covers, the album itself is under 35 minutes – the songs are tight, and don't waste any time. Miller's background also allows the melodic parts of the songs to be more tuneful than most Death Metal material. However this is also where I feel the album falls down a bit. The clean vocals seem almost out of place at times, seemingly coming from nowhere during the songs, and it can be a bit jarring for the listener. However, his Death Metal growls are awesomely heavy and intense, whilst still being original, so you won't think you've stumbled onto an IN FLAMES album by mistake.

When the songs aren't being melodic and tuneful, they descend into a fury of screaming guitars and pounding drums. The guitars strike a good balance between being heavy and an assault on your ears, and being catchy enough to give the songs a tune. Miller, Jaeger and Konkiel are all very good guitarists, and along with Yeung's brilliant drumming, they really leave a lasting impression on the listener. Unfortunately the track "Revere's Tears" feels really out of place for me. It starts with about a minute of acoustic playing (which does lead into a very heavy song) that while is no doubt good, just seems really out of place compared to the rest of the album.

"Tactical" has been in production for many years, and it shows because it is a very polished release in terms of production values and the tightness of the songs. In all, it's not a bad album, but I think that the clean vocals could have been improved by transitioning into them better in the songs. It's definitely a release for fans of the genre to check out, however.