With the plethora of Death Metal bands available to listen to these days, it can sometimes be pretty difficult to find any new ones that stand out from the crowd. I guess this is intrinsic with the very core of the genre; there are only so many ways that you can be as brutal as humanly possible, and of those many ways, not many are particularly unique or interesting. Don't get me wrong, I fucking love Death Metal as a genre, but only the most bloodthirsty fans can really sink their teeth into some of the bands that I've heard over the years. There seem to be a few distinctive schools of Death Metal and it's become pretty apparent in recent years that a lot of bands are trying to stick with the original raw sound that bands like OBITUARY, PSYCROPSY and GORGUTS pioneered. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but those bands were truly great for a reason; no one else was doing that kind of thing and their sound was so new and offensive that you couldn't help but sit up and pay attention. A lot of the bands that attempt it now get lost in translation and end up almost sounding like a parody of the genre.

BLOODWORK finely straddle this line but seem to come out on the better side of it in the end. Their new album "World Without End", is a fine jaunt through the darker sides of Old School Death Metal and has some real qualities to it that keep them afloat through this seemingly endless sea of repetition.

They are no new comers to the genre and you can clearly hear the experience behind them as the album tears its way into the first few tracks. The mixing is as good as you can hope for with this rough and ready style of production. The guitars are crisp and evil and refreshingly don't drown out everything else. They balance perfectly with the drums and vocals and allow you to really hear what is going on with each instrument. This is quite a feat given that the thing that really brings a lot of bands with this kind of sound down is that either the guitars, vocals or drums get turned up way to high and beat everything else into the background. The musicianship is faultless really. The guitar work is fast paced and intricate but doesn't get too far up it's own ass.

Vocally, it took me a little while to appreciate the album. They employ the high-end death screams that sound all too similar to a smokers attempt at shouting for my liking. This is the only thing that detracts from the quality of the sound at all. It's this style of vocals that I feel detracts a little from the music and although it has it's place, it definitely shouldn't be the main vocal style used.

The album on a whole is very good thoughout and my personal highlight is "Escaping The Abyss", the music suddenly develops a sense of doom and atmosphere and the high screamy vocals give way to some good old ball shattering gutturals (which are exactly my cup of tea). This is one for any fan of the old greats and may even win a place in the hearts of those that are just getting into the genre, for me though it doesn't quite hit the right note to stay in my collection forever.<