Customer Reviews

Blood

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am extremely excited & positively impacted after having listened to this album for the first time JUST NOW. And I don't feel that I can pen down my thoughts and articulate them precisely right now considering the fact that I will truly need to listen to this work many more times to keep uncovering layers off of it that, I'm expecting, would go on amazing me each time around. But I still HAD to write this quick review to let everyone know that PLEASE buy this album...it is yet another recording, sound engineering masterpiece which has some extremely catchy and kick-a** songs. In true OSI style it is a heady mix of controlled aggression, metal and ambiance...PERFECTED!!!

This album is very airy, spaced out yet contained and very very tight.

I love this album...the song Blood is simply mind blowing. And my favorite "We come undone" is just beautiful and dark. To create Radiologue would need a fried brain with fifteen thousand cups of coffee and too many joints. I just love the way layers of ambient sound textures seep through the "metal" so to speak. The crazy stereo panning and fractured delays with guitars and wierd sounds all melted together to form a complete picture is something beyond my comprehension as to how all that gets executed so beautifully by Mr. Moore and OSI.

Kevin Moore's singing and voice is just unreal (at least I feel so that its one of the most unique voices I've heard in a long time which is also very natural). Radiologue is a great song with a very catchy chorus.

Last but not the least you HAVE to listen to believe the craziness that is the song "False start". The way OSI has played with twisting time signatures and beat inversions using just a simple riff and stereo delay and panning and tight drumming just makes you want to drive your car at 120 miles an hour. Beautiful!!! Its incredible how toward the end of the song this very aggressive riff starts off on the guitar alternating between the channels and it all sounds very out of time, but just then the drums kick in to complete a 3/8 timing just perfectly.

ANYWAY...I started off writing this as a small review in a hurry....but ended up writing a decent amount. Point being..just go ahead and buy this album. This is gold...and just another dimension of kickass perfection reached by OSI. The guitar textures, drum tone/ playing, Kevin, the ambiance & the whole SOUND is at its height as to what an excellent mix of all of these could be like..

Don't compare this album to "FREE" because free was another masterpiece and a very complete record by itself (not to say that blood is not). I personally feel that the songs in free had a different theme and motive altogther. Can't really put my finger on what makes Free so different from Blood for me personally.

"Blood" on the other hand has a personality of its own. That is dark, a bit mellow in places, but still quite aggressive and overall enigmatic.

All in all, I thank Kevin Moore for making music...and I've waited for this album for so long...and it was every bit worth it!!!!

GREAT ALBUM!!

On the third OSI album, Blood, it is significantly easier to pinpoint what parts of each tune were penned by whom, as Jim Matheos assumes a bigger role on the album compared to their previous outing, Free. Unlike before, his riffs have been kept intact whereas Kevin Moore has applied his own songwriting vision without altering Matheos' ideas too much.

Matheos brings in plenty of catchy guitar riffs, which are merged with Kevin Moore's unique sense of atmosphere. None of the songs are heavy from start to finish, but several tunes, including the album opener "The Escape Artist," "False Start," and "Be the Hero" are marked with Matheos' distinctive riff architecture which is grooving and gripping. When combined with Moore's considerably catchier vocal parts, especially on the chorus of "False Start," the tunes feel like they would work greatly in a live setting if the duo were ever to play a show.

Kevin Moore's slow, monotonous delivery is still prevalant on all the tunes he sings, but he manages to implement more melody this time around, especially on the more Chroma Key-like pieces. His atmospherically dense tunes involve more synth work, lots of protruding noisescapes, and pulsing beats. "Terminal" is a very moody tune, comprised of myriad digital and acoustic elements; it boasts a deep, haunting atmosphere while "We Come Undone" sees the band work some of the compositional aesthetics of Free into the composition. Then there is "Radiologue," possibly their most inspired songwriting, where they blend modern and traditional songwriting elements into a cohesive whole driving the piece to a bittersweet midsection filled with wicked sonic experimentation.

New drummer Gavin Harrison proves to be a great fit, as he contributes immensely to the songs. His fills on both the rhythmically heavier cuts and the slower-paced numbers are great, best shining on the somewhat spacey "Microburst Alert," which just features voiceovers draped over curious sound effects, gruelling bass throbs (all played by Matheos), and whacky mini Moog effects alongside dazzling unison lines. Harrison's drumming neither dominates the mix nor turns into a lazy, vapid 4/4 rhythmic power. His tone, fills, and timing are simply brilliant.

Opeth leader Mikael Akerfeldt guests on "Stockholm," whose lyrics and vocal melody he co-wrote, putting in a breathtaking performance. His restrained yet highly emotive singing in a relatively electronic musical setting is someting we will probably never hear again. The tune slowly picks up momentum as Matheos begins to lay down single-note themes towards the end to push the song to its deserved apex.

The title track is arguably the best album closer they have had, retaining the controlled riff work and blending it with a ubiquitous synth melody through the course of the whole track. It is a very dynamic song with an emotional undercurrent.

The lyrical themes explored on Blood are moreso comparable to those on Free rather than their politically driven debut. However, this album is slightly darker, and Kevin Moore's lyrics seem even more enigmatic and esoteric than before. That said, the theme of death has certainly crept into most of the tunes not to mention the lyrics about school shootings that permeat the entirety of "Be the Hero."

The bonus disc of the album contains a track sung by Tim Bowness from No-Man, and I do feel it would deserve a place on the regular edition of the album.

By the way, Phil Magnotti's mix on the album is phenomenal. He deserves a medal for his work.

I've heard this disc maybe six times now, and it has improved with every listen. At first I wasn't so sure. I mean, I liked it right off, no doubt, but man I LOVED Free and OSI both. This one doesn't have quite the progressive edge of their first, nor quite the pop hooks of their second. What it has, after six listens, is really just starting to emerge for me. So, I would give it four stars today, but I've seen this too many times to not know already: I will give it five stars tomorrow.

The most striking components for me, initially, are the pulsing, off-center arrangements of many of the tracks, suggesting a concept album built off of a palpitating heart monitor. Also notable are the thick, sexy, candy-colored textures and synths, which mesh with Matheos' guitar work remarkably--again bringing artfully to mind the texture of blood.

Moore's vocals, at first seemed slightly less perfect than on the first two albums, but the more I hear it the more I like them. On that point, Akerfeldt and Bowness are freaking amazing. Maybe this is a departure point for the group, and more guest vocals will be forthcoming.

If that is the case . . . bring back BOWNESS! OMG! If you buy this disc, get the BONUS EDITION! No Celebrations is probably the best song on either disc. Funny . . . its exclusion from the album seems really stupid, until you think about it thematically, and the whole thing suddenly extends away from you with vertigo-inducing depth that you might never have expected . . .

Yeah, I'll give it five stars tomorrow, just as soon as I catch up with it.

Pay no attention to that other review...Mike Portnoy doesn't even play drums on this cd.Gavin Harrison from "Porcupine Tree" plays drums.
It's a great cd.Much better than "FREE"

I have the special edition of this one (with bonus disc featuring 3 bonus tracks - No Celebrations, Christian Brothers and Terminal(Endless).
I want to start by saying that I have loved everything so far that Kevin Moore has done, so I am biased. Please take that into account when reading the rest of this review. I am not trying to slight Jim Matheos or any of the other fantastic musicians who have appeared on OSi albums by the way, I just happen to be a fan because of Kevin Moore.

I bought the special edition despite the fact that the first two OSi special editions were a little disappointing to me personally. Packaging and design was terrific on the first, but the extra content did not really appeal to me. Same thing on Free (2nd album). That being said, there were one or two things i did like on the extra content of both of those albums, it's just that overall I hoped for better bonus content. I did also love the entire first two albums (standard content) no filler there!

This new album has less bonus content, but it is fantastic. I love No Celebrations! What a great song featuring Tim Bowness (of No-Man, a long-running collaboration with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson) on vocals. Chemical Brothers is also a solid song with a different feel than most OSi stuff. It was written by Elliot Smith, so that's probably why it has a different feel.

Now on to the standard content of Blood, the newest OSi release.
This album rocks! Layers Layers Layers... Experimental Sounds.... Skippy effects... Spoken Word Sound Bites... ROCK ROCK ROCK... Slow down and get trippy... Get UP!!! ROCK ROCK ROCK!!!! Layers Layers Layers.... Done...
That's my review! Five Stars!

OSi helps keep me from missing Chroma Key! I still miss Chroma Key a little bit though I guess... If you like this, check out Chroma Key too!

I hope that Jim Matheos keeps working with Kevin Moore, because he brings awesome rock to Kevin's trippy stuff. This is also the first OSi album not to feature Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) on drums. It features Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree and King Crimson fame. I do not have any experience with Porcupine Tree or King Crimson, but I think Gavin gives this album a unique feel. I really like his drumming style, particularly on Blood which is not a real heavy rocking song, but he gets very diverse with the drums and cymbals on this track. The drums are one of the main things that make Blood one of my favorite tracks on the album. I also like the subtle vocal effects on Kevins voice.

Also, if you are a fan of Opeth, Michael Ackerfeldt sings lead vocals on the song Stockholm. It's not the best song on the album, a little slow and moody, but it's not bad. The last minute and a half or so of the song does rock a bit. This song would be a great background score for a movie or tv show...

Bottom Line... If you've liked any other OSi release, you will love this one. If you like experimental trippy weird soundscape infused rock with lots of subtle layers and effects and have never heard of OSi, you should give it a spin, the second, third and fourth spins get so much better when you start to recognize the path that the songs follow.

If you're looking for straight forward melodic rock and roll, or Dream Theater or Fates Warning (I do love both of those bands by the way!) type stuff, go and get something else... You'll hear glimpses of Fates here, but it's not the same type of stuff. It's a whole different kind of awesome!

My personal favorites are False Start, Radiologue, Be the Hero and Blood. But there is not a song I don't like on this album.

I bought the first OSI album when it came out due to the connections with Dream Theater, one of my favorite progressive rock/metal bands of all time, and needless to say I enjoyed that album very much. I mostly steered clear of "Free" based on some of the negative reviews I'd heard. However, I decided to give "Blood" a try, especially after I learned that Gavin Harrison from Porcupine Tree would be sitting in behind the drumkit.

The album is aggressive and powerful but also has a polished sleekness to it that makes it sound very modern even though its roots are in classic prog metal from the 90s. There are many ambient hints of electronica and alternative rock offered by Kevin Moore that blend incredibly well with the heavy guitar riffs delivered by Jim Matheos. The vocals are cool and subdued as we've come to expect from OSI, and yet they complement the music perfectly.

The cameo by Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth on the track 'Stockholm' reminds me of everything great about their album "Damnation" fused with the simmering power of OSI. 'The Escape Artist' is a fantastic high-energy opener and sets the tone for the rest of the album. 'False Start' features a great off-time interplay between Matheos and Harrison which must be heard to be believed. 'Radiologue' is simply one of the coolest tracks I've heard in a long time - I listened to it about 15 times in a row at one point, just hitting the repeat button on my player over and over. And the title track is one of the most sinister and memorable album closers I've heard from any band in a long time...

If your musical tastes tend toward progressive rock and/or metal, you should consider giving this album a try. I don't think you will be disappointed at all.

Bought the album today on amazon's recommendation (Thank you!) and one of my best blind decisions of all time. If i were to compare the music to anything i've heard before, i'd say it was a mix of the tasty riffage from dream theater, the compelling rhythm of porcupine tree, the electronic ambience of Radiohead/Thom Yorke, and the Consistent electronic structure of NIN.

The album is Thick, and layered with electronic ambience. Each song takes more than one listen to fully digest the different sounds you hear. But this does not take away from the fact that they scattered yet frequent Prog metal licks and riffs are enough to satisfy even the most closed-minded and pompous progressive fans.

Tracks that i'm most interested in so far include:

False Start
Radiologue
Be the Hero
Stockholm
Blood

These tracks epitomize everything that makes progressive metal not only compelling, but fun. If you are even half interested in any of the bands i listed at the beginning of my review (especially Dream theater and Porcupine Tree) then you are fairly garunteed to enjoy this album thoroughly. Check it out.

It really took me many listens before I came to view Blood as one of the year's best prog albums to date. The first time I heard it, I was distracted by city driving and so annoyed by the 80s-style hair-band grind of Be the Hero that it colored my perception of the whole album. But repeated listens gradually brought me around to the point that I now like the whole album.
Blood finds O.S.I back on a supergroup trajectory after faltering somewhat with their last release. If you like driving, intense prog-metal then this is an album you've been waiting to hear. Though I now like the whole CD, all songs are not equal. My favorites are The Escape Artist, Terminal, Radiologue (the best), and the title cut.
Wise buyers will get the special edition that features an extra CD that offers three bonus cuts. All songs on that are excellent, especially No Celebrations.
This edition comes with a booklet that features pertinent album information and lyrics to all songs with the odd exception of Christian Brothers. And the lyrics are an important component of enhanced listener enjoyment. My only complaint about this CD is that I find the light red on glossy black background of the booklet difficult to read even with reading glasses. That quibble aside, Blood is a winner. Don't be the last on your block to own it.

I've been a fan of Kevin Moore's since I first heard the song "Space Dye Vest" when he was with Dream Theatre. I was devestated when he left the band, but after more than a decade of some of my favorite music in addition to all the great Dream Theatre stuff, I can't feel anything but gratitude for the departure. I have to admit, besides O.S.I, I have no knowledge of Jim Matheos (I'll have to check him out). I love all of the Chroma Key stuff and the O.S.I. albums, but none of my appreciation for their earlier work could have prepared me for "Blood". Perhaps having a seat under the stars on a comfortable summer night with a pair of quality headphones as opposed to the usual five-channel-stereo surround sound for my first listening of "Blood" made a difference, but this is one of the greatest albums I've ever heard. I hate to compare artists, for they are all of them unique unto themselves - especially musicians of this caliber - but an album hasn't impacted me the way "Blood" has since the last three albums by Tool. Vague similarities aside, "Blood's" pure sonic scope and innovation is what blew me away. I knew I'd like this album, still didn't expect what I got.

Blood is the third album from supergroup OSI. Composed at its core of Jim Mathoes and Kevin Moore (ex-Dream Theater), this band first shook the progressive world with the release of their self-titled album back in 2003. Thanks to an eerie soundscape built by Moore's keyboards likely during his time working on Chroma Key the album enjoys status as a cult classic in the experimental progressive world, a pure mix of atmosphere and metal textures. They followed this up with the release of Free in 2006, an album less focused on being traditionally progressive and more about electronics and hard rock. Free was also the first album I ever reviewed for this site, so I find it appropriate to be typing away on their third release, Blood.

This has been a fairly anticipated album thanks to a number of things, and first off on the list is the guest stars. Recruited on drums this time around is percussion master and Porcupine Tree member, Gavin Harrison, who lends his very distinguishable sound to the album without drawing it close to PT comparisons. The other addition to the album isn't around throughout, but does make an appearance on Stockholm, and that would be none other than Opeth frontman, Mikael Akerfeldt. He definitely switches up the music a bit thanks to his very dark voice which admittedly sounds a lot less robotic than Moore's, although he is very restrained on the tune. Anyone expecting Akerfeldt to unleash some death growls will be disappointed, but those who just love his singing voice will likely approve.

Style wise, this album may well have been a literal combination of the band's last two efforts. I makes for a very refreshing album overall, since the songs are not quite as long in length, but are no doubt just as ''progressive'' as one would expect them to be. They're still harshly dark, maybe more so than previous albums, and a little less on the electronica side of things, which is a nice change from Free and the EP Re: Free.

Among the songs themselves there's a lot to look forward to. Things get off to a blistering start with The Escape Artist which rings of Sure You Will from Free but with a more rock oriented direction and less repetition in the chorus, making it the perfect start. Terminal is a slow and brooding tune that utilizes Moore's voice and odd choice of lyrics to create a terrifying atmosphere over the course of the song. False Start is another hard rocker in the vein of Free's title track but with more atmosphere.

But it's the second half of the album where things really start to get good. If the first half is where the majority of the comparisons to Free come in, then the second half definitely has to be the one closer in kin with the band's debut. Radiologue is another song that makes the most of the more atmospheric side of things, still somehow managing to channel the spirit of metal to make the song into a very formidable force. From there Be The Hero rocks out with some meaningful lyrics and is probably the last time on the album where things are simply really heavy. Microburst Alert is the album's instrumental track, much in the same fashion as The New Math from the debut album - there's garbled conversation underneath the tracks until you can clearly hear someone yell, 'whoa! Stop! Stop! Stop!', at which point the music takes a turn from standard instrumental to 'blast your brains out awesome' with chugging guitars and mean rhythms until things all slow back down again for the conclusion.

The two concluding tracks almost run together, but are just another one of the standout points of the album. Stolkholm as previously mentioned, is fronted my Mikael Akerfeldt, and to describe how it sounds... imagine OSI doing a cover of one of the slow songs from Ghost Reveries with Akerfeldt at the helm and you've pretty much nailed the sound. It's unique, and so long as you don't go into it expecting it to be a death metal epic then you're likely going to enjoy the hell out of it. Much against the grain of what OSI normally does, Blood does not conclude with a soft and melancholy song like Standby (Looks Like Rain) or Our Town. This one doesn't go out with a bang either, this one drags you into a dark vortex with the short but effective opus, Blood, which comes off as a 5-minute extension to Stockholm with Moore constructing some of the most evil soundscapes you've ever heard. This is likely the song that's going to take the longest to catch on with most listeners, but damn is it ever rewarding.

Overall this is a strong release from one of the best modern artists of this progressive era. A definite improvement over their sophomore album and something that's going to give most of the releases this year a run for their money in the ''best album of the year'' department. Dark, evil and yet somehow sickeningly sweet to listen to, OSI's Blood walks away with a strong 4 blood cells out of 5, highly recommended.