Finland’s EARTHBLOOD is a new band in the Sludge/Doom/Thrash Metal genre. This is the band’s debut EP, and it has four songs. The title track is first. For me, it sounds closer to Thrash/Speed Metal at first, with deep gutturals, and some Doom elements season the stew. The odd thing about the music is the high level of energy while the bottom end crushes the listener. “Sigil” has even deeper and angrier vocals, sort of like CROWBAR. The music however is fairly elementary, and the band seems bent on straightforwardness rather than a lot of experimentation.

The songs keep getting shorter. “The Bellows of Terra” is fueled by thick and meaty bass notes, a riff that keeps the listener on their toes, and vocals belted from what must be a worn and red voice box. This song also has some more ominous tones. “Acid Viking” closes the album, and it comes in just a hair under three minutes in length. This song has a more traditional cadence…verses, a chorus, and a bridge. It burns so fast that it leaves scorched earth in its wake. Overall, four songs is the start of a good career for the fins. The trio works through and crosses a couple of different genres, and the album title is fitting, as I found the album to be congenital, no nonsense, and a take no prisoners kind of album.