Blood and Thunder (inspiration from Mastodon, I’m going to ignorantly assume who I love) is a killer melodic death metal band who released their latest EP this past November “The Necromancers Cantos”.  Blood thirsty bears, naked women with green hair…..pretty gnarly right? Time to focus on the music, I don’t want to know where your messed up minds are gonna go so let’s stay on topic.  These guys drew me in with a polished, heavy and obviously very melodic sound.  The keyboards are used so intelligently and swiftly where it occasionally harmonizes with the guitar on some leads. It isn’t cheesy in the sense of it’s super up front like a terrible 80’s band,  the synth and keyboard are in the RIGHT spots on the EP.  Yes, there are parts where it’s the leading melody in sections occasionally but it isn’t overused.

BLOOD AND THUNDER: 

Ryan Yancey – Drums / Vocals

Nick Hughes – Bass

Damian Boger- Keyboards

Major Bruno- Guitar

Michael Anthony- Guitar

Oh, and as you can see their drummer is their vocalist….which is not easy to do, by the way.  How cool is THAT? The guitar tandem of Bruno and Anthony is dynamic and have well written parts.  I already touched on the synthesizer and keyboard talent of Damian, but Ryan seems to be the gravy on the mashed potatoes.  His voice has a nice range of a low enough guttural, and those higher growls you tend to hear in melodic death metal.  His drumming is equally as impressive, to boot.  The guys have already opened up for stellar acts such as Amorphous, Dark Tranquility, Moonspell and Omnium Gatherum (by the way that was all in one show!).  You can also add Koorpiklani, Ensiferum and Becoming The Archetype to that list as well.  Don’t worry, they’ve also headlined plenty of shows in their existence which is just reaching over a decade since they started the machine in 2008.

If you’re into melodic death metal, with a bit more melody and harmony than usual Blood and Thunder will fit that to a tee.  “The Necromancers Cantos” is a solid EP with lots of energy and is pretty heavy as well.   The Seattle based band is just another testament to the Midwest and Northwest metal explosion of some great newer bands. Check out the EP just about anywhere on any streaming platform or digitally.

https://www.facebook.com/bloodandthunderband/

bloodandthundermetal.com