Inferno, the first part of Dante's Devine Comedy, depicts hell as consisting of 9 separate circles. Each circle represents a different degree of sin, and is occupied accordingly by those who are deemed evil enough to be welcomed to the collection. Austrian metallers BLED DRY offer to take you as close to those circles as is possible, whether you return however, is out of their control.

If I didn't communicate that well enough for you, these guys are dark, and they love it. Their self-titled promo release is heavy in every degree, and comes out of the speaker with brute force. If you're preparing to fight with a rhinoceros, well this record is standing by your side willing to give you what help it can; despite your great disadvantage.

The album remains of a relatively down-beat and slow pace throughout, with some songs such as "The Demon You Fear" providing an exception to this. Being very bass heavy the tracks do not lack force in any way, with the leisurely drop-tuned 'Chugs' guaranteed to get your head swaying at some point in the record. There is a noticeable lack of production to the finished piece, such as the drums sounding mapped, but there's countless numbers of possible reasons for this, making it easily forgivable if a little tedious. The deep, bear like growls of Bernd Brodtrager suit the musical environment perfectly, with him rarely venturing out of the lower range. This gives the record a consistent feel, which is always good, but it can become repetitive and as I neared the end my interest was somewhat lost slightly. All of this deep, beastly backing is combined with doom-like harmonies from time-to-time that really transport you to Dante's inferno. They're intentions were clearly dark from the outset and they've succeeded, so props for that.

Opener "Bleed You Dry" is a solid punch to the jaw that will leave you feeling a little worse for wear. A lovely doom riff gets the head banging flawlessly and the track flows well from this point onwards. The stand out song on this release however is easily track 09. "A Twisted Mind" which is kicked off with a loose bass riff that has excellent tone, before the other counterparts of the group jump into gear with great force. What is notable on this track are the quiet, whispered vocals being pushed out through deep expelling breaths. This gives a very sinister and unsettling quality to the song, sounding relative to SLIPKNOT'S 15 minute long "Iowa"; a very eerie effort. An air-raid siren on "Demons and Shades" may be a little overkill, as the song fails to impress, but they can't be blamed for trying.

"Bled Dry" is an excellent effort and definitely achieves the desired outcome of being dark and gruesomely heavy. Personally, I wasn't overly impressed, however I can see the appeal in some of the songs and I can't slate these guys for doing their own thing. Not my cup of tea, so to speak, but a decent record nonetheless.